Epidemic of 1986

"*Nobody speaks of this! Do you hear me? Nobody speaks of this!*"
—Timothy Max Roosevelt to his administration, 1987[[Chawosauria in the Chernobyl Disaster|[src]]]

"*You are going to keep this quiet and never speak of this again!*"
—Leonid Ivan Bzovsky to Shang Jong Parker in 1987[[Shang Jong Parker|[src]]]

## Epidemic/Pandemic

### Disease

* Acute Radiation Syndrome
* Chronic Radiation Syndrome
* Cancer

### Location

Empire of Chawosauria, Chawosaurian colonies in Ukraine, Belarus, Scandinavia, Greenland, and the Arctic Archipelago

### Origin

1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster

## Results

### Infected

Chawosaurians in Ukraine, Belarus, Scandinavia, Greenland, and the Arctic Archipelago

### Deaths

Unknown figures

In the Chawosaurian world, the **Epidemic of 1986** (also known as the **Epidemic of '86**, the **1986 Epidemic**, the **'86 Epidemic**, the **Chernobyl Curse**, the **Curse of Chernobyl**, the **Plague of Chernobyl**, the **Chernobyl Plague**, or the **Chernobyl Epidemic**) was a mini-epidemic of Acute Radiation Syndrome, Chronic Radiation Syndrome, and cancer that began in 1986. Chawosaurians who were either survivors or knew someone personally who was impacted by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster prefer not to discuss this epidemic, nor the Chawosaurian Imperial Government prefers to discuss publicly of this epidemic. It became a serious health problem since the Zaire Ebola Pandemic, and it hasn't really ended or its ending date is unknown.

Because of the horror of the '86 epidemic, it is also forbidden in many places in Chawosauria to mention it even briefly. This is one of Chawosauria's horror lores in the series.

## Chernobyl Disaster

It was April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (officially the Vladimir Lenin Nuclear Power Plant) was running a safety test which irony on everybody, the test went wrong and it exploded, unleashing radioactive contamination into the atmosphere that especially affected Pripyat. The Government of the Soviet Union had engaged in secrecy to cover up the nuclear accident, considering that the Soviet Union was actively engaged in a cold war with the United States, so something like this the Soviets feared could bring global embarrassment to the Soviet system while American nuclear technology is superior, so the Americans are pretty prepared for a nuclear meltdown compared to the Soviet Union as proven by the Three Mile Island accident seven years earlier. But when it became clear the Soviet Union could no longer hide the Chernobyl disaster because of satellite images and probably the severity of the accident, the Soviet Union decided to play it down as a manageable accident, when in reality on the ground, there was nothing manageable about the Chernobyl accident except evacuate all civilians and abandon the area completely, which the Soviet Union did eventually resorted into doing.

On the ground, first responders were horribly affected by Acute Radiation Syndrome (or Radiation Sickness), and unfortunately some of them have died due to severe exposure. When Pripyat firemen returned from the plant to the hospital on the day of the explosion, they were famously stripped down of their uniforms and the uniforms were taken to the basement because they were contaminated, it is no secret however that some of the nurses touched the contaminated firefighter uniforms with their bare hands and got infected themselves.

## Impact on Chawosaurians

There were Chawosaurian communities in Northern Ukraine and Southern Belarus, both of which were part of the Soviet Union at the time. Those Chawosaurians migrated there during the Russian Revolution and built generations of them throughout the years. When Chernobyl exploded, these Chawosaurian communities became especially vulnerable and very high risk. Throughout the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, shooting numbers of Chawosaurians there began to show signs of radiation sickness, with large numbers of them dying. The Chawosaurian Imperial Government responded slow to this health crisis due to intense radiophobia, Supreme Leader Timothy Max Roosevelt wanted no part of decision making regarding how to deal with these Chawosaurians, nor did Prime Minister Leonid Ivan Bzovsky despite most of these Chawosaurians being his Ukrainian compatriots.

Radioactive fallout from Chernobyl became wide-reaching from Ukraine and Belarus to Scandinavia and the Arctic Circle. Chawosaurians with Chronic Radiation Syndrome and cancer became a rising problem for Chawosauria.

Chawosauria had an abortion surge in the late 1980s because of fears of giving birth of radioactive contaminated children, which would mean horrible birth defects and risk to the health of the mother.

## See also

* Chawosauria in the Chernobyl Disaster
* Zaire Ebola Pandemic
* Chernobyl Act of 1987
* Late 1980s Abortion Surge