- Mar 31, 2010
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[HEADING=1]INJUSTICE LEAGUE[br]ASKS[br][small]-In the event of nuclear war, what would you do? -[/small][/HEADING]
So, the recent events between the West and Russia have led to the potential for a return to Cold War tensions and with that comes the ever-present threat of nuclear war. Now, I'm aware such a war isn't particularly likely but even so there's always some chance it may happen, some have estimated the chances of a child born today dying an early death due to nuclear war is as high as 10%.
Now, I've been doing some research over the last couple of days and what I've found is that nuclear war isn't quite as deadly as many imagine. Yes, millions would certainly die but millions more could survive... under the right circumstances. Here's a video from the Fifties which is maybe a little outdated but I feel it's advice is actually fairly sound:
Obviously, ducking and covering yourself won't protect you if you're unlucky enough to be right under where the bomb lands. If you're a few kilometres away however, shelter behind a wall or in a building could make the difference between third degree burns across much of your body and walking away nearly unscathed. Particularly of note is the advice to keep away from windows in the event of seeing the flash of a nuclear explosion, for it will likely be followed in a few seconds by a shock wave that would shatter the glass and embed the shards in your face.
The other thing I would do in the event of nuclear war would be to stay in my house for at-least two days and up a fortnight ideally. Evacuation is a possibility but risky, since everyone-else and their dog will have the same idea and it's not like many other places are going to be much safer anyhow. The reason for staying inside is that after the heat wave of the bomb has dissipated, radiation would be the highest risk to human life but nevertheless would dissipate fairly quickly. Alpha and beta radiation would be halted by the walls of a house, gamma rays not so easily, any sort of concrete or covering would help to a degree. If one had to go outside, covering up all exposed skin would help protect against the worst of alpha and beta radiation, not something I would do unless there was no other choice though. Within two weeks, 99% of the radiation would have diminished and going outside would be more feasible again.
Obviously, your location depends on how you might react in a hypothetical nuclear war. Highly populated cities and military locations in nuclear-armed countries would be most at risk, whereas rural backwaters in less threatening nations would be safer. Living near a port town in the UK, there's a good chance the nearby area would be bombed if Britain was involved in a nuclear confrontation, if I was lucky though I'd be far away enough from the blast to have a fairly good chance of initial survival. Of course, then the collapse of civilisation and a nuclear winter would likely follow but whatever.
So Escapists, what would you do in the event of nuclear war? Would you do similar to me, follow a different survival plan or just watch the world go out with a boom?
[HEADING=3]TL
R: What would you do if the bombs went off?[/HEADING]
[hr]R: What would you do if the bombs went off?[/HEADING][small]-JoJo-[/small]
[small]-Captain of the Henchmen-[/small]
