[TeMPOraL]

> Then there was a call to go help clean up. They promised money, even better apartments for volunteers (housing was government provided). Some went and they came back to a new apartment but they didn't enjoy it for too long. Others told stories of people burned so badly by the radiation their skin and meat was falling off their bones.

Just as a complementary data point, there were people who turned out OK. My friend's father was on his honeymoon in the area and when the call for volunteers came, he signed up. From looking at the family album, my friend tells me he lost something like 20kg in 3 weeks, but otherwise, it turned out well - he's alive and healthy today, and so is my friend.

[Balgair]

Ummm, that's ~2 lbs per day. Was he running a marathon each day without eating, for 3 weeks straight? That alone should have shut down his heart. Your friend's father is much stronger than an ox, as I am sure most farm animals could not have survived that either.