We recently reported that Moscow has expedited the planning and construction of 5,000 new nuclear shelters for the city, scheduled to be operational by 2012 and able to provide emergency shelter for about half of the city’s population in the event of a nuclear emergency.
The Russians are not alone in their nuclear response planning, as we’ve learned from a recent New York Times story. Officials from the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency say that the threat of a nuclear attack, namely from terrorists, is still a real possibility and they are “moving aggressively to conduct drills, prepare communication guides and raise awareness among emergency planners of how to educate the public.”
Over the years, Washington has sought to prevent nuclear terrorism and limit its harm, mainly by governmental means. It has spent tens of billions of dollars on everything from intelligence and securing nuclear materials to equipping local authorities with radiation detectors.
The new wave is citizen preparedness. For people who survive the initial blast, the main advice is to fight the impulse to run and instead seek shelter from lethal radioactivity. Even a few hours of protection, officials say, can greatly increase survival rates.
Administration officials argue that the cold war created an unrealistic sense of fatalism about a terrorist nuclear attack. It’s more survivable than most people think, said an official deeply involved in the planning, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The key is avoiding nuclear fallout.
A 130 page multi-agency report from the National Security Staff Interagency Policy Coordination Subcommittee for Preparedness & Response to Radiological and Nuclear Threats details planning and response guidance in the event of such an attack. The report, titled Planning and Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation, provides information on a host of nuclear emergency preparedness topics focusing on the first 72 hours after a disaster and includes:
- Nuclear Detonation Effects and Impacts in An Urban Environment
- Government Response and Zoning Emergency Areas
- Shelter and Evacuation Recommendations
- Early Medical Care
- Population Monitoring and Decontamination
- Public Preparedness Information
This is another example of many that suggests the government regularly plans, coordinates and war games emergency response for potentially catastrophic events that include not just nuclear, chemical or biological attacks, but far-from-equilibrium scenarios like economic meltdown, domestic riots, societal collapse, and even asteroid impacts.
Emergency planners on the federal and local levels have often warned that a widespread emergency, even a short term event, could lead to a breakdown in essential supplies of food, water and medicine. This would certainly be the case in the event of a nuclear attack.
The reality is that when it hits the fan you’ll be on your own, so having some basic knowledge and supplies on hand could be the only thing that stands between life and death.
A plethora of information for surviving nuclear attacks is available from government emergency planners as well as independent sources.
The government’s Citizen Corp web site also has details on nuclear emergencies, even providing an illustration of protective sheltering in the immediate aftermath of a detonation:
Those who are interested in learning more about the effects of radioactive threats like nuclear fallout and blast radii, and how to respond in the event of a nuclear emergency will find benefit in reading the Planning and Guidance report.
Interactive Nuclear Detonation Mapping:
Enter your zip code or city in the search field. Choose your “weapon” below the map and click “Nuke It” to map effects. Click here if application does not load
Also Read:
The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, Primary U.S. Targets, and Nuke Detonation Mapping
Federal Nuclear SHTF Response Will Be Non-Existent
SURVIVE ANYTHING! Chapter 1: Nuclear Attack
EMP – The End of Life As America Knows It (Short-Film)
Homeland Security To “Regionalize†Emergency Supplies Over Next 90 Days
Just what I needed to brighten up my day – Thanks!
Get your potassium iodate (or iodide?) and keep it handy…
This is also pretty day-brightening:
Click for full playlist
General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, I don’t think I do, sir, no.
General Jack D. Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
General Jack D. Ripper: Now why don’t you just take it easy, Group Captain, and please make me a drink of grain alcohol and rainwater, and help yourself to whatever you’d like.
EMP has only a mere mention, one paragraph! Other reports differ.
“Although experts have not achieved consensus on expected impacts, generally they believe that the most severe consequence of the pulse would not travel beyond about 2 miles (3.2 km) to 5 miles (8 km) from a ground level 10 KT explosion. ”
Why now are “we” so interested in all this? I wonder…
Check out spike tv disasters – they have a well done nuke simulation and what to do –
If you are alive and relatively unhurt after the blast then you have survived and if you are able to remain under cover for a period of weeks you will miss the worst of the fallout.  Even in a massive attack most people in this country would survive. The question is “what then?”
I think the reason we are suddenly interested in this again is because it is suddenly likely to happen sometime soon. A nuclear bomb is a terrorist wet dream.
Maybe the government could provide $ 10,000 tax credits to incourage homeowners to build concrete underground bomb shelters in their backyards. It could stimulate growth in the construction industry and prepare the country for nuclear attack survivability at the same time.
Of course those who currently live in condos, trailer parks, RV’s, and tents will be S#it Outta Luck.
But seriously, it sounds like FEMA is crying out for more funding.Perhaps to build shelters for government officials(themselves) because the country will need leadership after the radiation levels drop to allow return to the scorched surface. I’m sure it will get passed as infrastructure repair & improvement to stimulate job growth. Or that’s what they’ll say to justify the money printing to fund it.
What “will” top 911?
Rule #1:
Spend as little time as possible in, or directly down wind of, major population centers, and your odds will go way up.
Comments….. if it ain’t one thing than it’s another!
This crowd pleaser information was on nation wide 6:30 pm news last night. The other half just looked at me….
Major T. J. “King” Kong: Survival kit contents check. In them you’ll find: one German made H&K forty-five caliber automatic with twist on can; two sealed tins of Made in Russia ammunition; four days’ concentrated emergency rations Made in USA; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills from Canada; one miniature combination Chinese/India phrase book and bible; ten dollars in yuan/rupee;  five South African Krugerrand gold coins; one tube of Chinese toothpaste; one brick of size (XL) Japanese prophylactics; three bright red Made in Mexico lipsticks; three pair of Made in S. America nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella’ could have a pretty good weekend in Hong Kong with all that stuff.
Air Force to Try Parcel Devices to Track Nuclear Weapons
http://finance.yahoo.com/video/marketnews-19148628/air-force-to-try-parcel-devices-to-track-nuclear-weapons-23543760
What’s rule #2?
How ironic that the safest places to be are: in a gold mine, previous ICBM silo, nuclear submarine or Gilligan’s Island.
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