| Author | Message | | dangerousdna | | Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2003 6:19 am Post subject: How To Survive a Nuclear Attack |
| http://www.thewavemag.com/printarticle.php?articleid=21967
How To Survive a Nuclear Attack
An Atomic Explosion Won't Kill Everyone. Necessarily.
Note: Our writer read countless documents and interviewed nuclear scientists, experts on terrorism, a guy selling fallout shelters and political activists worried about nuclear proliferation. No one would go on the record, not even the lobbyists. Everyone was skittish about describing what happens to a city during a nuclear explosion. That said, everyone agreed that for the type of device a terrorist could detonate, the numbers cited are accurate. Some thought it would be slightly worse, a few thought it would be slightly less, and where no one could agree, the article uses a range of numbers.
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Boom, flash, and everyone dies. Nuclear war used to be so easy. The now-extinct notion that the Soviet Union's 500-megaton plutonium fusion ICBMs would simultaneously wipe out America's major cities and bury the remaining population in a nuclear winter was, if nothing else, easy to cope with. After all, the doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction rendered the likelihood of such an attack almost nil. Even if it did happen, it would be over in an instant.
The current nuclear threat is smaller in scope, but more likely to occur. The unthinkable scenario now sketched by politicians, pundits and expert handwringers involves a single terrorist detonating a less powerful (1-10 kiloton) uranium fission bomb at ground level in a highly populated area. Such an attack would be catastrophic. But you aren't helpless. Your actions in the seconds, hours and days after an atomic explosion can be the difference between life and death.
The Big Bang
When a nuclear device detonates, you'll have no problem distinguishing the blast from that of a conventional weapon. Aside from the deafening explosion, you'll instantly notice the glare of the fireball. It will be at least five times brighter than the sun and last anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute. Train yourself to immediately duck and cover. The first rays of intense light only give a few seconds notice before a wave of radiation is emitted from the blast. Near ground zero, this radiation blast kills everything it touches. At longer range, anyone caught standing in the open will receive a full-body x-ray. By diving to the ground, you might miss all or most of the initial radiation.
The light given off by a nuclear explosion (a.k.a. ''the thermal pulse'') is also incredibly harmful. Close to ground zero, the light delivers second and even third degree burns. Hitting the deck is your best defense. People outdoors during a blast will receive vicious sunburns up to two miles away. Outside the sunburn zone, duck and cover and shut your eyes. Many people far from the blast will stare in amazement. They are in big trouble. The light from the nuclear fireball will burn permanent dark spots into their retinas. Even if you look sideways at the explosion, the intense light is still too much. When the blast subsides, anyone who tried to squint through it will be blind for up to an hour while their eyes re-adjust. If you are driving and absolutely must look around, cover up one eye for later use and get off the road before everyone else goes dark.
The Lifesaving Fetal Position
With your quick reflexes, you've curled up and closed your eyes at the first signs of atomic attack. So far, so good. But once the boom subsides and the light dims, you're going to be tempted to crawl out of hiding. Don't do it. The next phase of the nuclear explosion is on its way to kill people who survived the initial blast.
The intense heat produced by the nuclear fireball (over 20,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit) suddenly expands the surrounding air to create a blast wave. A typical blast wave leaves ground zero at 4,000 miles per hour. In a metropolis, the force from this wave can destroy as many buildings as the first explosion. If you're relatively close to ground zero, this wave rushes past you in seconds. The chance of survival dramatically increases simply by staying on the ground. If you are outdoors, point your feet in the direction of the attack. Anyone standing will simply be blown away.
You need not be close to the bomb to be incapacitated by the blast wave. As the wave travels out from ground zero, it loses speed and energy. Several miles from ground zero, it slows all the way down to 150 mph more than enough to rival a Category Four hurricane. You can guess what might happen if you weren't lying in a ball on the ground. Anyone who didn't dive for cover will be able to see the blast wave coming. Traveling behind a layer of compressed air, the blast wave bends light, appearing as a giant sheet of glass coming towards you. While the blast wave may not knock you off your feet once beyond the 10-mile range, it can shatter windows, take down power lines and create traffic accidents everywhere.
Did We Say You Could Get Up Yet?
Even after the blast wave rips through your location, stay crouched. As it rolls out from ground zero, the fireball left behind heads skyward so quickly that a vacuum is created. This vacuum ferociously sucks in air, and soon the outward blast wave is followed by heavy wind blowing in the direction of the detonation. This wind isn't as intense as the initial gusts created by the blast wave, but it's still strong enough to send debris flying through the air.
As a rule, once you have detected a nuclear explosion and huddled under or behind something, wait two full minutes before getting up. If the blast wave and counter-suction are strong enough to damage your area, they will have passed or subsided by two minutes.
Congratulations! You survived a nuclear explosion. Surprised? Don't be. A small nuclear device will not destroy an entire city. Depending on where it detonates, it might not even destroy more than a few blocks. Because terrorists don't yet have access to ballistic missiles, they would be forced to detonate their device at or near ground level. The resulting explosion would be absorbed by the earth, surrounding buildings and in San Francisco, nearby hills. These mitigating factors provide a much smaller blast area than a high-altitude detonation, but considerably more radioactive fallout.
Partly Cloudy, Chance of Radioactive Showers
Once two minutes have passed, stand up and survey the damage. Depending on the size of the device, everything within a half-mile radius of ground zero has been replaced by a crater 200-feet deep. The blast wave toppled or fatally wounded buildings for another mile, and the thermal pulse that could've blinded you has ignited a series of fires. Additional fires from ruptured gas mains and downed power lines are also burning. But you must keep a clear head and find shelter. Nuclear fallout is coming.
When a nuclear device detonates at ground level, the material that once filled that massive crater is vaporized and sucked up into the rising fireball's vacuum. This material forms the infamous mushroom cloud, which hovers some 12 miles over ground zero. Once this vaporized material cools, it falls to earth like a radioactive snowstorm. The largest pieces, which will look like burnt popcorn, rain down within minutes. Medium pieces, ranging in size from small ashes to grains of sand, are carried in the wind and dropped dozens of miles from ground zero. Smaller radioactive particles will remain in the air for months.
In the chaos that follows a nuclear attack, many will try and evacuate the area. Roads will be clogged not only with thousands of other evacuees, but also hundreds of traffic accidents caused by the thermal pulse and blast wave. As fallout rains down on traffic, people will find automobiles to be unfit shelters against the effects of gamma radiation. An hour of exposure to fallout means certain death. Shorter exposure times result in temporary radiation sickness (severe nausea, projectile vomiting and rapid hair loss) and significantly increased risk of cancer later in life. Without question, your greatest chance at survival is reaching shelter.
Gimme Shelter
Ideally, every building would be fitted with a nuclear fallout shelter surrounded by five inches of steel, three inches of lead or two feet of packed earth. It would be stocked with two week's worth of food and water, an air filtration system, plumbing and plenty of batteries to keep the radio going. Of course, no one has a stocked fallout shelter ready and waiting these days (except Congress). You're going to have to improvise.
The single best place to be during fallout is underground. If you have a basement, go there. If your building has underground parking, hit the stairs. If you are hiking near a cave, you've hit the lottery; caves are an ideal shelter. But even without a basement, all is not lost. Windowless hallways or rooms will provide some protection. The point is to surround yourself with as much heavy material as possible. If you are miles from the blast, you have anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes before fallout begins. Use the time to surround your designated hiding spot with stacked furniture and unhinged doors. If you are outside and absolutely cannot get to a building, seek shelter under a heavy underpass, climb into a dumpster or culvert or seek out a ravine. In completely flat areas, digging a thin deep trench actually provides excellent protection.
The Waiting Game
Once you have selected a shelter, hunker down and relax. You aren't going anywhere for at least 24 hours, the amount of time it takes the fallout to completely fall out. The deadly contents of the mushroom cloud are at the mercy of the weather. If the wind blows south, then the nuclear fallout rains south of ground zero. If the wind shifts west after a few hours, communities farther south may be spared. Heavy winds could spread lethal fallout over a 50-mile path, while a rainstorm could confine the fallout to a few miles past ground zero. But by the end of the first day, the fallout process will be complete, and resumed radio broadcasts will begin identifying which areas have been affected.
If you are a member of the lucky majority, your area will be fallout-free. You will be allowed to leave your shelter after 24 hours, although you will be advised to stay indoors as much as possible for the next several weeks. The smallest radioactive particles can remain airborne for months, and exposure could increase risk of cancer and birth defects. Just remember that you must receive outside confirmation that your area was spared from the fallout. Leaving your shelter to determine fallout status, even for a minute, can be fatal.
If you don't have a radio, and no one comes to tell you that everything is copacetic, assume that your area is covered in poisonous dust. You must not leave your shelter for three full days. On the third day, you can take a peek. If you find yourself in the fallout zone, you can make a run for water provided that you spend no more than 30 minutes exposed. Your best chance is to remain isolated for a week after the explosion, and a quest for supplies should only be made if necessary.
Food Run
During your half-hour shopping spree, look exclusively for food packaged in sealed containers. Bottled water is fine. Canned food is great. Sealed bags of chips, unbroken eggs and frozen TV dinners are also edible if you wash the outside of each item.
Forget about hunting for food. Any animal living outdoors is contaminated. The U.S. Army Field Manual suggests cooking an animal to a crisp and then nibbling on the meat farthest away from the bones as a last resort, but what can you trap in half an hour? Plants are also contaminated. So is all standing water. The reality is that you're going to have to loot the nearest grocery store of all its packaged junk food.
A Few Unwanted Side Effects
While you load up on Chef Boyardee, grab a few bottles of Pepto Bismol. No, not because canned ravioli gives you the runs, but because exposure to gamma radiation will. The person(s) selected to forage for supplies on day three will survive their brief exposure, but will likely develop radiation sickness. Likewise, anyone holed up in less-than adequate shelter. The bad news is that there is no cure. The good news is that your body can fight it off. Over-the-counter medications can ease the nausea, diarrhea and vomiting of radiation illness.
Radiation reacts with different people in different ways. Some people may not be as affected. Don't be afraid to help those who are suffering; radiation sickness is not contagious. Most cases clear up in about two weeks, which is about how long those in the fallout zone will be confined to shelters.
You might be wondering about radiation suits right about now, wishing you'd thought ahead enough to have one on hand. If you're suitless, though, don't feel naked protective radiation suits are a complete myth. Radiation suits have only one real purpose: they are a one-piece layer to put on when venturing outside your shelter, and then take off when you get back so that you don't track the lethal fallout inside. A mechanic's jumpsuit, a hooded sweatshirt, a brown paper bag, a NASA astronaut suit all give the same level of protection if you are outdoors: none. A garbage pail would work just as well.
Yep, More Waiting
After stocking up on day three, remain in your shelter for another four days. The radiation levels outside your confines are dropping rapidly, but are still lethal in the first week. On day seven, you are allowed to venture out for a full half-hour. By day eight, you can spend an hour outside. On days nine through 12, gradually extend the time out from two to four hours. Each time you return, however, completely wash any fallout particles from your exterior. Even the slightest bit of radioactive dust in the shelter could kill.
By day 13, radiation levels recede to the point that ''normal operations'' can take place outside the shelter. As emergency crews file in to remove nuclear debris, many will evacuate. Heavy fallout areas retain small radiation levels for years, perhaps even decades, and many evacuees will never return.
While thousands perish in a nuclear attack, millions survive. There will be scores of survivors who were close to ground zero and entire communities can withstand an avalanche of radioactive material. The threat of total nuclear annihilation is a modern myth. With a cool head and informed game plan, you can up the odds of surviving an attack. | |  | | | ©2002-2009 WarWithoutEnd.co.uk |
