Before dawn, buses were already lined up along the road beside Yanov Station, one after another, stretching for a full twenty kilometers. From afar, they looked like a long dragon.
For some reason, however, the authorities did not immediately begin the evacuation after daybreak. They merely kept broadcasting announcements throughout town, telling all residents to remain inside their homes and not go out. People were also reminded to shut their doors and windows securely. Groups of health workers distributed Potassium Iodide tablets everywhere, and due to a shortage of staff, they recruited female high school students to help.
Representatives from the town's enterprises and organizations were gathered in the DW building, where the Ministry of Internal Affairs explained the details of the evacuation to them.
Many people found it hard to believe. Quite a few had already felt unwell yesterday and left Pripyat with their families, but even more had chosen to stay. In their eyes, Pripyat's sky was still as clear and blue as ever, and the river was still clean. Other than the faint metallic taste in the air, everything looked no different from usual. How had things suddenly reached the point where they had to evacuate? And the experts were evasive about when they would be able to return.
A considerable argument broke out at the meeting, but in the end, the enterprise and organization representatives chose to comply with the DW's arrangements and assist with the mass evacuation of the entire city.
The official evacuation time was set for two in the afternoon. Although Belodov had already transferred 1,100 transport vehicles from Kyiv and other places, those thousand-odd vehicles were far from enough to carry away all the belongings of Pripyat's remaining residents. Nor would the government allow them to take anything already contaminated by radiation.