In the event of nuclear war, what would you do?
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I live in a small place in the California desert. Within the area typically known as the 'High Desert'. My husband and I would probably try to head up North to the family ranch in Montana, and depending on how things look - try to see how Canada is doing. I really can't think of anything else to do, besides maybe getting in touch with my Dad and asking him to accompany us.
I'm, at a very rough estimate based on a cursory glance at a map, about 50 miles due east of Washington DC. So, based on Wikipedia research on thermonuclear warheads, I'd be fucked right from the get-go. If I did survive the initial blast, there's no way I'd be able to outrun the fallout, so I'd likely die of severe radiation poisoning.
Yet another reason to look into moving to Australia.
Yet another reason to look into moving to Australia.
I'm actually not that bad off. I live in between San Fran and San Jose. There is a road through the mountains near me, it's windy and dangerous, and not used very much, and if you follow it, it brings you right to the ocean...but not near any cities at all.
I'd head over there asap, get supplies (mainly water with just a decent enough amount of food to last a few days), along the way, and then grab a boat and head North, possibly stopping in canada to resupply but eventually reaching Alaska. I'd take a look around and see how bad it was hit, if hit at all, it would be my first place I might stop. If it's thrashed though, irradiated etc, I would keep following the coast of alaska (so I could resupply with fresh water/food as needed), and eventually cross the bearing Sea....and then head down past japan and to Australia. If anywhere in the world will be safe, it's Australia.
I'd head over there asap, get supplies (mainly water with just a decent enough amount of food to last a few days), along the way, and then grab a boat and head North, possibly stopping in canada to resupply but eventually reaching Alaska. I'd take a look around and see how bad it was hit, if hit at all, it would be my first place I might stop. If it's thrashed though, irradiated etc, I would keep following the coast of alaska (so I could resupply with fresh water/food as needed), and eventually cross the bearing Sea....and then head down past japan and to Australia. If anywhere in the world will be safe, it's Australia.
To address the title, I would get away from people. There are few, if any, targets that are likely to get hit by a nuke anywhere near me. I would just get away from people who are likely to get panicky and dangerous. Move to the wild nature in my area, which I understand well enough to sustain myself. In my location, panicky people are more dangerous than fallout.
Take the necessary precautions to survive nuclear fallout from continental europe or Russia. It's highly unlikely Sweden itself will be a target at all.
Well I live in Tasmania, Australia, which is just about the least threatening place on Earth, so I'd be a victim of the impending fallout. To be honest, I think I'd rather just perish in one of the initial blasts and have it over quickly.
Head north as quickly as it was safe to do so, in a way that was away from major population centers if possible.
The first attack likely wouldn't be the last, but I'd be far more likely to avoid a second one if I was in Canada, and I could pretty easily get there in a day.
If civil society hung on, I could return when things were more orderly. If it broke down, I'd be better off in Canada anyway. Lower population, fewer weapons, far fewer people who have been looking forward to an excuse to use them with impunity.
I don't have the illusion that I'm some font of survivalist skills or that I'm going to single-handedly rekindle hundreds of years of agricultural know-how, but I think I could cobble enough staples together that I could hunker down and get by somewhere with a wall behind my back for a time.
The first attack likely wouldn't be the last, but I'd be far more likely to avoid a second one if I was in Canada, and I could pretty easily get there in a day.
If civil society hung on, I could return when things were more orderly. If it broke down, I'd be better off in Canada anyway. Lower population, fewer weapons, far fewer people who have been looking forward to an excuse to use them with impunity.
I don't have the illusion that I'm some font of survivalist skills or that I'm going to single-handedly rekindle hundreds of years of agricultural know-how, but I think I could cobble enough staples together that I could hunker down and get by somewhere with a wall behind my back for a time.
actually your on americas nuke list, everyone is.HellbirdIV said:
if the hypothetical is between modern west and soviet as was , ill probably be lucky and die in the initial blast, i live town centre of a communication hub so if im lucky ill see the double flash and have just about enough time to say "oh fu"
if its the much more likely pakistan vs india exchange well i guess id procure a bottle of co2 then wait and see which theory crafters have it right.
the most likely target in my country is the only NATO base in my whole country, which is near a town i used to live, but no more. So a nuclear strike likely would not have direct impact on me but rather have only indirect impacts such as widespread panic ect. Now, of course someone could try to bomb our capital for maximum human loss, which would be pointless considering its not even 1 million people here total, but lets pretend somone is stupid enough and decides to nuke center of my town.
In this case i wil lact depending on where i am:
im at work: im dead. i work at the center street of town on the top floor. will be disintegrated instantly.
Im at home: I live on outskirts of town. literally the first buildings in town you see when you drive from the north. As such, im far away from the center. In fact, im so far that if a nuclear bomb was thrown there the blast i woudl feel wouldnt be even enough to burst my windows unless were talking Tsar bomb level of explosion.
So the real problem would be radiation and panic.
Now unless i would clearly see things are not going to be dangerous, i would grab as much water as i can while the pumps still work as well as my food and go to my garage. Now, my garage is 2 storeys underground, and built from concrete. So i would be under two storeys of concrete, safe from radiation. i also got gates that can be both opened electrically and manually and thus i could lock myself inside. It wont be a confortable area, and all but its survival. The contrete there is so thick cell and radio signals fail in there, so radiation will likely not reach it either. the largest problem would probably be ventilation shafts, that are not shielded but considering distance from impact and angles not likely.
I usually have enough food to last me 2 weeks, the real problem would be grabbing enough water down there to last me that. I got plenty of plastic bottles, so provided water works long enough i can fill them all up. provided that icna get there and i can also have electricity till the city finally drops it.
Now as far as radiation goes, if we use conventional nuclear weapons, should be safe to go out after 2 weeks, if we use hidrogen bombs, that shortens to 3 days. however if they use dirty bombs (more likely from terrorists than actual war), then were looking at years.
However, rationing my food i may very well sit there for quite a while happily in my underground car bunker
In this case i wil lact depending on where i am:
im at work: im dead. i work at the center street of town on the top floor. will be disintegrated instantly.
Im at home: I live on outskirts of town. literally the first buildings in town you see when you drive from the north. As such, im far away from the center. In fact, im so far that if a nuclear bomb was thrown there the blast i woudl feel wouldnt be even enough to burst my windows unless were talking Tsar bomb level of explosion.
So the real problem would be radiation and panic.
Now unless i would clearly see things are not going to be dangerous, i would grab as much water as i can while the pumps still work as well as my food and go to my garage. Now, my garage is 2 storeys underground, and built from concrete. So i would be under two storeys of concrete, safe from radiation. i also got gates that can be both opened electrically and manually and thus i could lock myself inside. It wont be a confortable area, and all but its survival. The contrete there is so thick cell and radio signals fail in there, so radiation will likely not reach it either. the largest problem would probably be ventilation shafts, that are not shielded but considering distance from impact and angles not likely.
I usually have enough food to last me 2 weeks, the real problem would be grabbing enough water down there to last me that. I got plenty of plastic bottles, so provided water works long enough i can fill them all up. provided that icna get there and i can also have electricity till the city finally drops it.
Now as far as radiation goes, if we use conventional nuclear weapons, should be safe to go out after 2 weeks, if we use hidrogen bombs, that shortens to 3 days. however if they use dirty bombs (more likely from terrorists than actual war), then were looking at years.
However, rationing my food i may very well sit there for quite a while happily in my underground car bunker
damn, i was gona post that!albino boo said:
I approve the choice of music, but there's a good chance your modern electronics will be toast and even the old transistor (which, you know, we all have) radio an absolute unsuable mess until the ionosphere calms down. Interesting point though that older analog electronics do better in unsheilded EMP exposure than new miniaturized digital stuff (apparently). Still vulnerable, but old analog circuits, vacuum tubes and telephone relays aren't as susceptible to instant-bricking. I wonder if that would work for vinyl records and passive speakers? Might wish to invest.lacktheknack said:
Anyway, realistically, in the unlikely event one is in a situation where nuclear warheads are exploding in one's municipality, I'm kinda of the opinion you want to either be far enough away as to not be affected at all... OR...
Alternately, you may wish to be close enough to the detonation to either be in the fireball or high psi shockwave, as this will afford one the opportunity to be atomized or black out instantly from the impulse of G Force before you realize what's happening. It's the far-middle ground you want to avoid; the thermonuclear radiation released as light during the initial reaction, about 24.4 km for a standard Chinese ICBM, airburst. Exposed tissue or chromatically absorbent clothing (black) safely guarantee 100% probability of 3rd degree burns and heavy direct irradiation. The good news is that the flash-incineration will destroy most of the nerve endings in any exposed tissue, which in tandem with extreme shock will make the experience less immediately painful than you might expect. The bad news is that despite being optically cauterized, as the soft tissue breaks apart and disintegrates, you will be highly susceptible to infection, disability and will likely require amputation of affected areas (if you can reach a doctor). Back on the bright side, these physical nusiances might not be a long term issue for someone in attendance of a thermonuclear detonation, since the intense irradiation will prove fatal to approximately 60-75% of those not immediately vaporized within a few hours to weeks, depending on individual constitution of intensity/duration of exposure.
For a comparison of relative yields, Fat Man, leveled Nagasaki with 20 kilotons, though allegedly only 5% of fissionable material reacted during detonation. US Trident D5 Warheads contain 455 kilotons, the largest aircraft carried bomb, the B-83 contains 1.2 megatons (1200kt) payload. The Soviet R-12-SS-4, concerned during the Cuban missile crisis, have 2.3 megaton payloads. The current Chinese standard ICBM, the Dong Feng-5 (CCS4), (which china has 20 of, capable of simultaneous launch at targets over 13,000km) has an impressive 5 megaton payload.
Were you to know of the approach of any such device, LacktheNack, I would strongly recommend an immediate drive west to Wabamum. Your city is pretty isolated, but it has the unfortunate strategic importance of a large military base and airport (both of which would be within the relevant thermal distance of the epicentre of a downtown attack).
All of these projections are supported by sophisticated predictive models, but are still rather iffy and conditional, but please be careful in a pending nuclear attack. My post apocalypse would be a bit dimmer without you playing Aphex Twin from abandoned forest ranger station emergency radio, like Three Dog, but with good taste in music.
Mind you, I'd probably have joined the rest of the causalities in the great infinite myself at that point, but I'd like to think you'd keep the signal alive for my green Giger ghost to dance to in the ashes.
I live in New Zealand. Who would bother trying to nuke us? We'd be so far down on the "Places I should Nuke" list that they'd run out of warheads before they got to us.
This subject came up at my work a few years ago, and one of the simple girls said that she would simply go and hide in a submarine until the war blew over. When asked where she would get a submarine in New Zealand she said she would build one. When we asked how, she replied "Just, ah, get the community together".
Very much this.JoJo said:
There is a lot of information around on what to do in case of a nuclear attack, and there are loads of simple things to do to improve your chances of survival.
Ducking and covering is a good idea, hiding inside a solid building is better. Shut the windows, close the blinds, and hide under the furniture. Can improve your chances by a surprisingly large amount.
Now, it's unlikely a nuclear attack will come out of nowhere, there are likely to be plenty of wanrings that things are getting really bad, time to improve your house. Paint the outside of the windows white. If you've got a basement, not a bad shelter, can be made better by putting loads of sandbags or something on top of it. The more mass you have between you and a radiation source, the better. Lead shielding is nice, but lots of dirt will do.
Hell, if things get bad...if you are reading this you have got internet access, go to youtube and look for documentaries and military training films to tell you what to do. A lot of the old stuff is also quite entertaining as well, much better than most stuff on TV currently.
For me, personally, I'm far from anything remotely worth targeting, though maybe I could get a new job closer to targets before war breaks out.
...Psshh, attack Embra? We're the world's biggest export for disgusting alcohol, chavs and broken windows! We're vital to the eastern economy!
...Yeah, kiss my ass godbye.
...Yeah, kiss my ass godbye.
Unless for some reason abandoned shopping carts and boosted bicycles are for some reason declared a vital resource, I think I'll be fine. My city is far enough from anything worth nuking that even a Tsar bomb wouldn't hit me with any great effect.
Jesus christ I may never be happy again. I think I need to go watch gifs of cats falling off of stuff for a few hours now.Zykon TheLich said:
Living in fourth of fifth biggest Polish city, I would die in a blast hopefully (if Russia would be so kind to remember how disobedient we always were). Which is good, as in no way I'm in any shape both physically and mentally, to endure the aftermath. To make it worse I can only dream about getting my hands on a gun. "The Road" scenario isn't appealing so I really hope that I'll die quickly and without a fear of my family being raped, eaten or tortured for lolz.
On a side note, don't want to crush your Falloutesque dreams, but I've read somewhere that at this point no country is prepared to cope with a loss of it's electricity infrastructure, as you can't produce new components or repair old ones without electricity itself. You can't get fossil fuels without it, or even dream about maintaining a food supply chain (cities would have to die out of starvation). Domino effect all over the place.
All this considered, I think only the meanest and most ruthless would survive. Of course also smart enough to realize he/they won't survive only by plundering - hello feudalism or even slavery.
On a side note, don't want to crush your Falloutesque dreams, but I've read somewhere that at this point no country is prepared to cope with a loss of it's electricity infrastructure, as you can't produce new components or repair old ones without electricity itself. You can't get fossil fuels without it, or even dream about maintaining a food supply chain (cities would have to die out of starvation). Domino effect all over the place.
All this considered, I think only the meanest and most ruthless would survive. Of course also smart enough to realize he/they won't survive only by plundering - hello feudalism or even slavery.