All of the causes could have been avoided easily with some respect and compassion for life. Each is directly connected to each effect mentioned; these effects have impacted lives of innocent civilians for more than 25 years and will continually affect people because there is nothing that can be done to stop the radiation that is stuck in Chernobyl.
Political tension was probably the chief cause to the failure of the fourth reactor; it definitely was a direct cause of the adverse effect on the people of Chernobyl and the surrounding areas each were affected in similarly destructive ways. One of the biggest downfalls of the government was not informing the surrounding countries properly. Rather than telling other countries, the Soviet Union covered it up, and acted as if nothing happened though they knew that one of their reactors just exploded, and many people could be harmed from radiation. Many countries such as Sweden, Finland, and Norway asked the Soviet Government what was going on; they had been given indications pointing toward something not being the way it should be. All of these requests were denied and met with silence, until the Government released this statement, "An accident has taken place at the Chernobyl power station, and one of the reactors was damaged. Measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences of the accident. Those affected by it are being given assistance. A government commission has been set up" (Greenwald 39). It has been said that if the Soviet Government had acted earlier many lives would have been saved. Evacuations were also discriminatory, according to Jessica Lee. She stated that, "Increased ethnic unrest threatens because 'Byelorussians [Of or relating to the region or former Soviet Socialist Republic of Belorussia] were not evacuated immediately after the accident.'" Even though they knew of the danger the Communist Government refused to evacuate cities and towns; this angered many people in the Soviet Union.
