It was as bad as Hiroshima
When the reactor exploded, approximately 30,000 people were in the vicinity of the area. Those who were exposed to the radiation received about 45 rem, similar to the radiation dosage received by the survivors of Hiroshima. Although this amount does not cause radiation sickness, it increases a person’s risk of cancer by almost 2%. This means that we can trace about 4,000 cancer deaths from this accident.