I've been saying that this for over a week in other threads, only to get laughed-at that I thought this was no where near a Chernobyl-type event. Christfuck some people are ignorant.
Quite different, the people sent Chernobyl, many were sent from other soviet "states", hundreds of kilometers away. There was no information given, they were told that it's just a fire. Guys came to the door at night and told them "you're going to work, no time to pack". They had no knowledge of radioactivity at that point.
The sad thing is that they probably won't die fast enough. They will be too sick to work before long.
For a while, they will be heroes and given recognition, medals and all. As the years go by, they will be forgotten. Unable to work in a country with very little social safety net, they will die jobless and homeless if they live too long but not strong enough to work.