Surviving an Atomic Blast

I came across this 1950's era civil defence video that gives instructions on how to survive an atomic blast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8SK28htqbg

Check it out, and let me know what you think of the advise given.

 

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Close the blinds.

 

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In school, they told kids to get under their desks, tuck their head between their knees, and kiss their ass goodbye.

 

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Nuclear weapons are certainly very destructive, especially compared to regular explosives, but most people have a very exaggerated sense of how "unsurvivable" they are. Getting under a desk would definitely greatly increase your odds of survival. Contrary to the popular idea that a nuclear bomb is guaranteed to kill you, there were actually a lot more injured survivors at Hiroshima as there were deaths. Most people are surprised to learn that 7% of the people who were within 1000 feet of the Hiroshima blast survived.

Most people killed at Hiroshima and Nagasaki were killed by flying debris or being crushed in the rubble of collapsing buildings. Crouching under your desk probably improves your chances of survival if the ceiling collapses on you, and reduced your odds of being shredded by flying glass etc. People laugh at the whole "duck and cover thing," but it's important to realize that in a nuclear blast the area where everything will be vaporized is small compared to the area where it will simply be like being near a large explosion that causes flying debris etc.

 

That's all well and good... Until the radiation poisoning kills you.

 

I remember being told you should paint your house white because it reflects the blast.

 

Yes, but the Hiroshima and Nagasaki were far smaller than those being built and tested in the 1950s. The 50's was the age of the H-bomb, some 300 times more powerful than Big Boy.

 

There were about 255k people in Hiroshima when it was bombed. About 45k people were killed in the blast and 69k survived with serious injuries. Of the 69k injured survivors, 19k later died of radiation poisoning. So if you aren't killed by the initial blast (and you probably won't be), you probably won't be killed by the radiation either. Note that this is with 1940 era medical technology, when approximately zero was known about how to treat radiation or fallout exposure. With modern medical knowledge, a large percentage of that 19k would have lived. Heck, even with 1960s era medical knowledge many of them would have lived; not surprisingly, in the 1950s doctors and medical researchers became pretty damn interested in how to treat radiation poisoning.

The whole "OGM Teh radiations will kill you!!1!!1!" thing is just part of the general bullshit that surrounds nuclear weapons in the popular consciousness. Yes, radiation is very dangerous. But it's not some magical, unstoppable force that is guaranteed to kill anyone and everyone in the blast zone. If you survive the initial blast and don't get crushed by your collapsing roof or shredded by flying debris, you will probably live.

 

It doesn't really matter. The size of the area that's damaged by a blast wave resulting is collapsing buildings and flying debris is still going to be huge compared to the area that gets vaporized/fatally irradiated. Ducking and covering is still an excellent idea.

 

Oh no, it certainly does matter. It's the difference between a city in rubble and a glass lined crater. The only thing ducking and covering is good for is kissing your ass bye-bye.

 

And this is based on what, your extensive experience with nuclear weapon effects and survival statistics?

No nuclear weapon is going to turn a city into a "glass-lined crater." A 1 megaton nuke, which is larger than is currently deployed by anyone as far as I know (note: before you post about how someone once detonated some experimental bombs with a yield of whatever, notice that I said deployed), would destroy most buildings within around 7 km and kill most people within around 3 km. The crater itself would be less than 1 km across. Note that this means most people die within an area of 30 km^2, while most buildings are destroyed or damaged within an area of 150 km^2. The difference between who survives and who doesn't in the 120 km^2 difference will mostly be determined by who is unlucky enough to be crushed by falling buildings or shredded by flying debris. Ducking and covering would greatly improve your chances of surviving.

 

Yes, and going to college to get an education so you can live in a sturdy structure with a sturdy storm cellar! I think I'd depend on an underground shelter, cave, or in the least a reinforced concrete building with few windows.

I actually have a bomb shelter under the mountain behind my home.. too much free time lol. Its an old drift mine, it has a sandstone top thats 60" thick. Just any cave won't do btw, a cave with lots of rubble on the floor is generaly not a good place to hang out when the ground is going to be shaking. However one that has a good quality strata for a top and is reinforced and has few wide passages over 16ft would hold up.

Also if you find yourself sheltering from a nuclear blast in an old mine or a cave.. stay away from the ribs.. (the sides of the caves) more people die from the sides shooting out than from the top coming down. Never go into old mines without knowing the quality of the air, if you live in a coal field for example your walking into a bomb most likely. Even in areas where there is natural gas, shale rocks or slate layers there is probably going to be methane in those caves and old mines. Methane from 5-15% will explode and kill just like a bomb.

I mean if you want to be prepared for it all you got to have air quality devices "sniffers" we call em, (they detect flamable gases, carbon monoxide, dioxide, and monitor oxygen levels) you also might want a gieger counter to monitor radiation levels, you can get both on ebay for around 30 bucks. I discovered with my gieger counter that there is actually uranium in these hills! Walking beside an outcropping in eastern kentucky is about like getting xrayed, some areas do have uranium in some of the strata. Its enough that in the future it will be mined once other sources become exhausted that have higher concentrations.

But anyway its good to know your local geology for any survival type situation, where is water, where is shelter, where is wild growing food?? Those things could make the difference between surviving or dying.

lol I'm getting carried away but all that will help survival is one of my favorite hobbies!

 

Bomb & Fallout Shelters Plans & Nuclear Civil Defense FAQ

http://www.radshelters4u.com/index3.htm

 

I think Alex is pointing out if you are at the epicenter unless maybe your underground it won't matter you'll be vaporized with the building and the desk your under.

 

Yes I agree with you, Alex is just far too depressing lol. He's a little grumpy and if we were nuked I bet he is going to assume it will land right on his head haha.

However if you work in a big city downtown... say you were in manhattan. Then I would say 100 megatons gives you no chance of survival unless you can get out of town because the major cities and military bases WILL be nuked dead center if it ever comes down to that. So if you live in downtown or work there in a major city then get your butt out of town becomes more logical than duck and cover.

But still there is greater chance you will be outside the city and possibly survive to evacuate the irradiated area and have little mutant babies

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I'm sorry, but that is completely wrong.

the Hiroshima bomb detonated over a hospital, 90% of the doctors and 93% of the nurses were killed instantly.

70,000-80,000 people were killed instantly, which is equal to 30% of the total population in the city.

And another 70,000 were injured.

The radius of total destruction was roughly one mile with fires going out as far as 4.4 square miles. We estimated that 4.7 square miles of the city had been destroyed.

The Japanese determined 69% of the buildings had been levelled with another 7% damaged.

Where did you come up at this "7%" figure??

And hiding under a desk does not help if you are on the 30th floor of a collapsing sky scrapper.

And being buried alive is arguably even worse than dying instantly.

And that was a relatively tiny bomb by modern standards.

 

Hilarious! Obviously lets not forget the horrendous amount of cancer victims who are faced with radiation, and the children of those exposed being born wilth deformitys etc. What a truely ludicrous film.

 

Survivors of Hiroshima/Nagasaki had a 45 percent higher death rate from leukemia and an 8 percent higher death rate from cancerous tumors than the general Japanese population.

But, to put that leukemia number in perspective, only 1.27% of people even get it (and not all die from it) but even if they all did that would only be an increase to 1.84%.

There is no evidence yet that the bomb survivors suffered epigenetic effects.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-...ues-on-risks-to-cancer-patients-children.html

Arthur