Preparations And Survival For Nuclear War

preparations-for-nuclear-war
Image: WikiHow

The immediate psychological effects of a thermonuclear explosion – a surface burst of a nuclear weapon (or weapons) that suck millions of tons of pulverized and radioactive earth into the air – will be outright terror.

 

Stunned terror, confusion and panic – primarily because it will be an event that is so entirely outside the realm of normal thinking – it will ‘not compute’.

Those who grew up during the height of the cold war with the USSR have a better understanding about the threat of nuclear war. They prepared and they drilled for nuclear war. It was part of their real world and was within the real realm of possibilities. For those born after the cold war, the threat of thermonuclear war is simply not a part of the thought process.

A nuclear attack will be completely and entirely unexpected by nearly everyone. Why? Because most everyone suffers from normalcy bias and most everyone believes that because nuclear war has never happened, it never will.

The problem with that thinking is the assumption that the “powers-that-be” and nuclear powers “heads of state” are stable, sane, logical minded, and follow the doctrine of MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). Many of us on the other hand also know that there are present day ‘questionable’ leaders and those in positions of world power and influence who may not necessarily place the same value on human life as you or I.

 
Suddenly, a brilliant and blinding flash of light…

Some people will think the end of the world is upon them following the blinding flash of light – seen many 10’s of miles from ground zero. The billowing red and orange fireball of boiling fire, towering into the sky, will trigger panic.

There will be no way to know at first if there are more to come, or if other cities have already been blasted. Chances are, there will be another wave.

The terror will paralyze most, who will do nothing at all due to shock and terror. There will even be those who will suffer heart-attacks from the fear and panic of the horrific event. Chaos.

 
The thing is, other than ground zero and the immediate vicinity within nuclear fallout, a nuclear attack is likely survivable, so long as you are not located within the blast zone of instant death. Certainly your life (everyone’s life) will be changed forever, but you will stand a chance to survive. Nuclear survival will involve many things and it will entail implementing a survival plan – up to and including a way of life which will give you a fighting chance to make it in a post modern world which may have been shredded and hurled into chaos.

 
Nuclear War Survival Skills

Potassium Iodide Tablets, 130 mg (14 Tablets)

Related article: iOSAT™ Tablets For Your Nuclear Survival Kit

Geiger Counter Nuclear Radiation Detector

 
What will you do immediately after the nuclear explosion?
The very first warning sign may be the blast itself.

Note: Under no circumstances should you look directly at the fireball, or suffer probable temporary (or permanent) blindness.

Your greatest immediate need will be shelter from fallout. Seek shelter immediately. If you are several miles out and survived the initial blast, you may have 30 seconds until the shock wave.

Even at 5 miles out, you may suffer third degree thermal-burns, depending on the nuclear blast yield. At 20 miles the heat may still burn your skin.

The wind from the vicinity shock wave will peak at around 600 mph and will level anything or anybody caught in the open.

The best bet for survival within blast zones and their perimeters will be underground, with dirt/earth between you and the fallout/radiation.

Related article: Nuclear Radiation Shielding Protection

If the detonation was a surface blast, large amounts of nuclear fallout will occur as the blast mixes with earth (dirt/debris) and rises up into the atmosphere. The dust and debris kicked into the atmosphere will then “rain down”, bringing with it dangerous amounts of radiation. The fallout may drop from the atmosphere as contaminated black soot known as “black rain,” which is very fatal and may be of extreme temperature. Fallout will contaminate anything it touches.

Generally speaking, plan on staying in your shelter for a minimum of 200 hours (8-9 days) if you are anywhere withing the vicinity of the nuclear blast. Under no circumstances leave the shelter in the first forty-eight hours.

A primary aspect to survival will be to keep any radioactive dust/debris/fallout from contacting your body – or breathing it in, if you are within range of the fallout cloud.

After the initial shelter-in-place period, you will need to leave the area completely. The ground will be covered with radioactive dust/debris. Leave the area when “the dust has settled” so to speak. Then enact your bug-out plan.

If you are outside the range of nuclear fallout, then your primary concerns will be any immediate follow-on attack versus the proximity to where you are located. If that is not an issue, then you will be entering the phase of SHTF, where life as you know will be changed forever. Your survival will now depend on your preparations for a major collapse, and all that goes along with it…

The psychological preparations for nuclear war involve the acceptance that it could actually happen – shedding your normalcy bias, and then the planning for such an event (which will overlap with other preparations if you are a preparedness-minded person).

Note: After nuclear detonation(s) there will likely be financial meltdown. This in and of itself will bring chaos to the world as we know it.

The scope here is not to tell you how to survive nuclear war, but to get you to start thinking about it – the first step to taking action…

55 Comments

  1. And you don’t have a root cellar YET?? Iodine tablets to protect the Master Hormone of your body the Thyroid? Plastic Sheeting and Duct Tape to keep radioactive debris out of your home? CUE “Dust in the Wind”… Maybe a copy of Nuclear War Skills on hand and read?? The ability to protect yourself your family and your food animals is pretty high on my list of prepping.

    Sigh, so many triggers awaiting the unwary.

    Pray and prep friends, Pray and prep.

    NH Michael

    1. @NH Michael Excellent points, every one of them.

      Once again, for personal safety, it’s the same mantra: Stay away from cities.

      When there is any reason for heightened-alert regarding our personal safety and national security, it’s also important to stay away from high-value target areas. Folks, you do know what and where they are, don’t you?

      BTW, the e-book, Nuclear War Survival Skills, by Cresson Kearney, has been available online (free) in PDF form. Just search for it!

      1. MT
        Thank you for the link on the surviving nuclear war. I sent the free book to family, some who live in harms way.

        Sometimes have the feeling they believe their aunt has lost her nuts & bolts on the way to the funny farm. Keep trying to make them aware the world is not as it appears on the MSFN. They were born into a world view which presents false safety by living within the borders of the USA. Nothing happening here which would cause them to be overly concerned. Maybe this will rattle their normal concept of the world at large..one can only hope.

  2. It is frightening to think that we could possibly be in a situation like this. I think a lot of people became complacent about Nuclear war after the “end” of the cold war. I personally have always felt it was still a potential and things have certainly been ratcheting up, you could say this was my first preparation motivator, I read a book as a child about an attack. Outside of the initial blast, the biggest problem as you mention is fallout.

    It is actually surprisingly easy to survive that initial blast if you’re not right under it. A good basement, a subway tunnel, an underground utility closet. If you have any notice at all, just getting under ground ups your survival rate dramatically. Fortunatly fallout radiation has a huge decay rate. Within a few hours it is ” survivable” and within 3-5 weeks Most of the radiation would be gone.

    I have read in older 60s-70s guides that if you take cover and its not safe or stable you need to try and stay put a minimum of 24 hours. After that, if you have no choice, the big concern will be breathing in dust particles. Just one more reason to keep an N95 in your basic kit.

    1. The Book I read as a kid was called “After the Bomb”. It was supposed to be a series but was a one off as the writer never continued it. In it, a kid finds an old shelter n his back yard and converts it into a Fort/hideout and that is a very good decision. In my late… preteens? I found an old shelter behind an abandoned house myself with some friends and Immediately recognized what it was, this was the real true first moment of wanting to be prepared for me.

  3. This is a good article that should be discussed at the family table. Considering the world events that seem to be going of the deep end. Only preppers “Get It” and know what needs to be done.

    The biggest step is to figure out if you want to live in a post nuclear exchange world. Most people live in big cities or near military targets of ICBM’s. Those that feel that life is hard now, have no idea how this incident will change their lives. Especially when the only one they can depend on is themselves.

    When you talk to people on this subject, three things happen. One you become a nut. Second the cost factor comes into play. Third is how much work has to be done.

    Yet these same people will happily jump in your foxhole when it goes south.

    My questions are. If you have materials to shield you from a nuclear blast’s fallout. When do you assemble your protection? Your decontamination place. We know there is little warning of a ICBM attack. Are there News Event that will move you to take pre attack actions.

  4. “Because most everyone suffers from normalcy bias and most everyone believes that because nuclear war has never happened, it never will.”

    Sorry all; anyone old enough to remember Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 when the United States of America dropped “little Boy” on Japan? Some will argue that was ‘only’ and atomic bomb and not a ‘nuclear’ bomb, Hiroshima has estimated that 237,000 people were killed directly or indirectly by the bomb’s effects. Three days later the USofA dropped “Fat Man” on Nagasaki, total deaths by the end of 1945 may have reached 80,000. So I would argue yes there has been a Nuclear War.

    The ONLY country in the world that has EVER used a Nuclear Bomb in a time of war….. You guessed it. Just because we have short memories there are a lot of people/countries that remember August 1945 very VERY well.

    Yes the Human Race has perfected many very good ways of killing ourselves; Nukes are only one of many. Even worse, think of one of those little Nukes used as an EMP estimated 90-95% death rate in the US alone, without the ‘retaliation’ that WOULD happen around the world.

    I grew up during the ‘Cold War’ and the Cubin Missile Crises, I remember very well the drills of getting under a desk in case of a Nuclear Explosion, it made us feel safe….. Not so much anymore.

    Surviving a Nuclear Event; only one way, not being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ‘Nukes’ we have now are hundreds of times more powerful and deadly than in 1945. Afterward, having those preps ready and being able to survive for a long LONG time without going outside and being irradiated from fallout. Think 6 months to 2 years ‘without’ minimum.

    Ken has a LOT of good reading material and ideas here, if you ever think on the horrible death from radiation sickness, what he suggests is a MUST!!!!!!!!

    This is very nasty business my friends, I Pray we never find out what ‘May’ happen.

    FYI, when ya see the flash or are watching the manure splatter all over the place from the fan, it’s too late to start preparing.
    NRP

    1. Normalcy bias? Say it isnt so! Oh the shock, and surprise! And, and , and,,,,
      Yea, thats the understatement bud

  5. I have mentioned in other comments I have made that I have been preparing for a two week stay in the root cellar should there be a radiation cloud. When I finish my purchases I shall be pretty well prepared. I have written up a list of what actions to take and in what order to do them should it happen. This plan relies on getting an electric extension cord through the hot air vents into the root cellar. This would power the fans, electric light, nightlight, hot plate, and radio. Now I am working through the logistics for a grid down situation.

    I am also looking beyond the two weeks. What happens then? How much would covering the garden in plastic help? What about the greenhouse and well? How do I measure the radiation in the soil and well? I have many questions and very few verifiable answers.

    Just an extra…coconut activated is considered the best way to remove radiation from your body. One tablespoon per cup of water. I have yet to find how many times to do this. I wonder why this isn’t recommended for people who undergo radiation treatment.

    Distance from the radioactive source and prevailing winds must also be important considerations. Some charts show that twenty miles is the danger zones and yet others will show this to be much greater . The nuclear winter is based on a widespread contamination. It all becomes very contradictory.

    Stay frosty. (Calm and cool)

  6. The next time I am with my non-prepper friends and we are playing “Conflicted” (yes, it is still considered play by them) I will be putting forth my own question. “If you have two to four hours to prepare for a radioactive cloud, what would you do?” Evacuation is not an option.

    Answers should be interesting. I imagine some will be downright wrong. Others will show the lack of organization and guesswork. Perhaps all of us should write in our answers to this questions. We would each have variations because because of our locale and situation, but it would be a worthwhile exercise and excellent exchange of information.

    Stay frosty.

  7. Sorry, that should read “all of us at MSB should answer the question.

  8. Anybody have actual experience with the geiger counter Ken linked above? Ken? Price is nice,,, but curious if it really works

    1. Yes, I have one. They really do work. I’ve tested a number of items, including some foods that I once used to worry about and am no longer worried!

      There are plenty of YouTube videos with people testing items — just search with the GMC 300e name. Here’s one video that you might enjoy watching:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm9PS91gJfw

  9. Like many others, I did not build a bunker for reasons that logically included; nuclear war not seen as a high probability, what would you come up to in this world after the war, who wants to live in a small hole for months or years, cost, …..

    How quickly the doomsday clock is affected by world events and what threats to our survival move up the list of possibilities. I did not correctly factor in the instability of a madman like Ahole Un (if that is his name) and how he could really start world war III.

    That bunker idea looks more attractive now.

    1. I should add a positive note to my situation so I do not go crazier.

      Location here is great – well away from major centers, mountains on both sides to capture moisture/contaminants and buffer us from blast waves.

      Preps for about two years but who real knows what may be the most necessary items to have. Good root/storage cellar away fro main house and hidden.

      Sparse rural population – many with farming skills.

      Two good water sources without counting rainfall.

      Good garden area including greenhouses.

      Great firewood supplies and heating/cooking appliances.

      Tools of all kinds manual and power.

      It is a time to count one’s blessings as I look for the best location for my hole.

      1. Homebody, In any case for water in a nuke attack, even fallout many miles away would contaminate streams and lake water until the radiation lost it’s potency. I would think deep wells would be safer, or springs that comes from underground. I am lucky to have an artesian well close by. I hope everyone here has an uncontaminated source they can use.

        1. Stardust

          Yes you are correct – I do have one deep well. Stay safe.

      1. Tom

        Yes, appropriate name in a starving nation. Let the population take him out with an anti-aircraft gun like he has used against relatives.

  10. I have a question. Since an nuclear bomb would cause an EMP wouldn’t that ruin any Geiger counter? Just curious as to whether it would be really worth buying the machine. I know they make stickers, though they wouldn’t be as effective.

    1. @ Been There

      Yes, if the Geiger counter uses electric aka batteries, it would ‘fry’ if we were hit with an EMP. But remember, the ‘fall-out’ would not be a factor in an EMP strike.

      Secondly, most would store the G-C in a Faraday Cage for protection form an EMP.

      NRP

  11. I have been more concerned lately about NK’s threats to use nukes on the US and we sent an armada of battleships and submarines that you better believe contain Nukes to the area. My nephew is on one of those ships. We are poised to fight a war and it could happen any time, including now, while the MS media is more focused on the doctor pulled from the airline.

    The Doomsday clock has been set the closest to midnight than it has ever been since 1953 when the nuclear arms race got into full swing. For the beginning of 2017 year, it was set at 2 1/2 minutes to midnight. They have not accounted for the most recent threats in the last few days which would make it much closer, but they only show they set it once a year.

    I am not in any danger zone from a blast, and I doubt N Korea will hit us with 400 bombs all over the US target areas, but all it will take is one hitting in a populated area to set off disastrous events from the madman FatBoy.

    I already worked out a few scenarios if the country is hit, remembering some articles Ken posted here that are very helpful. Thanks, Ken.

  12. Ahh, the Cuban Missile Crisis. Duck and Cover. I was in the 3rd grade and while walking home from school used to wonder if I could make it home in time if a bomb hit. In those days we lived next door to Jim Reeves the country music singer. He had a bomb shelter built in his home. Momma and I got to inside and he had a piano, reel to reel and canned foods. Funny what children remember. My uncle built a shelter too. I recall the winding way in as they said in the day, radiation can’t turn a corner. Hummm many changes in many years.
    Semper Fi

  13. I don’t believe that where I live would be one of the first places to attack, but I do believe that it is on “the list”, and worse, I live quite close to where I would expect the target to be–about 5 miles.

    Ken, I believe that you’ve said before that the best way to survive a nuclear war is to see it coming (or something similar). The fact is I’m not too confident in my chances as they are, but if I saw tensions getting bad enough I might put some food and water in the basement and start sleeping there.

    1. Yeah boy, we are sitting between Oak Ridge and Ft. Campbell fun fun. As the crow flies not that for from Redstone Arsenal either.

  14. Belle, most dreams are made up of everyday thoughts and what is occurring in your life. Try to think back to that time and what was happening in your family etc. When the dreams stopped did someone leave or some other occurrence end. I too used to have a reoccurring dream as a child. When I became an adult I could put the pieces together. Then again………you could be right.

  15. We all tend to tip toe around the problem with some good solutions. Unfortunately we will not know for sure what works till it happens. My concern is the information we see each day. There is information that is withheld from us, as in military secrets. Then there is information that is withheld from us for the public safety and to avoid panic. The media also has a problem with fake news.

    So how do we determine when to Giddy up Out of Dodge or fortify/shield the place we will hunker down in.

    I believe with all the sabre rattling it is a close to a doomsday as the Cuban Missile crisis. Only more players. Events like the sinking of a U.S. aircraft carrier. The introduction of an EMP into the battlefield. Used of Tactical nukes. Complete mobilization of all the worlds armies. North Korea lets go on South Korea and Japan.

    Sleepers are the nations of India and Pakistan which have nuclear weapons and Iran is friendly with Pakistan. We already the policy of the Jewish State.

    Many times we forget some players on the chest board till they make the news cycle.

    If Russia does indeed have a high velocity weapon, it may signal the end of the Aircraft Carrier. Enter the Energy Beam Weapons. EBW’s.

  16. I too, am a child of the ’50’s and the fallout drills at school. I have seen several posts asking about Geiger Counters. I recall as an elementary school student being the class “radiation monitor” (making me expendable?). I was given a device similar in size to a “sharpie” that I carried in my shirt pocket that had a small window into which you looked and could detect different color changes coinciding with varying radiation levels. In the third grade they didn’t explain the science behind the device, and looking back I’ve thought it must have been similar to the dosimeters worn by radiology technicians.

    Does anyone else remember these devices that may have more info on them? Are they still available? They couldn’t have been very expensive, or they wouldn’t have passed them out to kids. But then again, they may have not have worked at all, just handed out as a feel good device to make us feel as if we actually had a chance of survival.

  17. Going back to re-read Alas Babylon. Some good information but morals and ethics have decayed considerably since that book was written.

  18. Thanks for the reminder article Ken.

    It arrives at a time when the leader of North Korea is doing things that scare the heck out of many of us. ( having his brother killed at an airport, playing with his missiles and bombs like an young teenager with a jumbo package of fireworks on July 4th ) The sad fact is many within his own borders are going hungry if not starving.

    Growing up, I was reminded frequently that our family tree has a missing branch that was cut off when the Hiroshima bomb was dropped. My Grandfather’s brother spent 7 years within a prison after the war for war crimes. The officer above him was executed by hanging.

    State side during the war, 2 of my uncles were interpreters working with intelligence to interpret japanese radio traffic. One served with the 442 regimental combat team. ( he was with headquarters so he was the only one I met that had all of his fingers and toes.) I went to Gardena, CA and drove some survivors to a reunion of 442 regiment years later. Most I met had arms and legs missing and were all very proud. They encouraged me and my cousins to NOT go into the military when we were of age. “We fought for this country so you kids could go to college, get a degree and raise a family!” – I was told this by many a gray haired veteran of the 442nd that day.

    My father worked for the Army after he graduated college with a degree in mechanical engineering. He worked as a clerk typist stationed at Los Alamos, New Mexico during WW 2. He did not talk much about what he did out there.

    Nuclear war? My family was involved and I hope we never go there again. Prepping for it is a good idea though.

  19. Thanks for the article, Ken. Until the past week or so, a direct nuclear attack was lower on my list of things to prepare for than EMP/cyber attack or global financial meltdown. Listening to the current rhetoric has me re-evaluating its likelihood. Seems that a good time to do some survival research starting with the many articles on this site.

    I just bought some KI tabs (thanks for the link) and a card style dosimeter. Geiger counter went onto the “wish list” since it isn’t in the budget this week, and there are other priorities for next week like that hand crank weather radio I’ve been wanting.

    I know that preparedness is a lifestyle, and I am in this for the long haul. I just wish things would calm down for a bit. It seems like every few weeks, there is another trigger that makes me want to go into prepping overdrive. I still have so much to do…

  20. I had a dream/vision of doomsday when I was 5 years old that frightened me when I lived in Illinois. It told me my family’s foundation was torn apart when my house split in two, and I was abandoned by them. They took off in our car and I was left alone, for I was afraid the world would end…. but I saw a Tipi and 3 Indians in my yard after I went back to my house. Dreams have objects that symbolize things and emotions, so I took the dream to be my future and guide as well as a warning to prepare. I went into primitive survival and found the Tipi and 3 Indians in the dream were an actual painting on a valance at our family cabin in Northern Minnesota. This is where I ended up not far from that cabin. It has an abundance of natural resources and a very sparse population. Since then, my family did abandon me, they have honesty issues and when confronted about their lies, they got upset and disowned me, and they seem to hate each other. Everything is as my dream, just not wanting the earth to start rumbling….

    Yours was a fear you had, and with what I can interpret, it was a warning not to go down the path others are going because you seem to be forced into it. If you fear something dreadful is coming, you can make a choice to go a different way and don’t let anything force you to go where you don’t want to go. I hope you can work it out. :-)

    1. Yes, when I was grown a deep hidden memory was triggered and brought back from the past. It had to do with a male family friend. That is all I will say.
      My parents would not have know about it. After all I had to protect them!
      My dreams had to do with this incident. Glad you were able to heal and find a peaceful place. We can only change ourselves and go forward.
      Semper Fi

  21. Had been prepping for EMP as a possible event. Now it seems to be nuclear war edging it’s way into top spot. DH got a $100 gift card for Christmas from his boss and we haven’t used it yet. I’m thinking that I need to get some more duct tape and plastic sheeting along with other goodies.

    Guess I’ll be re-reading “Life after Doomsday” by Bruce D. Clayton, PhD. If memory serves me correctly, his PhD dissertation is the basis for this book. It’s well written and comes with detailed directions to make a Kearny fallout meter along with the template for it. Covered all aspects of nuclear war along with other disaster scenarios. The local library was selling off their old books. Best darn 75 cents I ever spent!

    kk

  22. I looked up the radiation detector listed by Ken with a battery life of about 5 hrs. Is there a unit out there that can be plugged in for continuous monitoring like a smoke detector?

    1. @ homebody

      Assuming your talking about this link “Geiger Counter Nuclear Radiation Detector”

      The ‘GQ GMC-300E-Plus Digital Geiger Counter Nuclear Radiation Detector Monitor Meter dosimeter Beta Gamma X ray data logger recorder realtime monitoring test equipment’ ????

      From Amazon —– “The device is equipped with an USB port, utilized for communication and external power supply/charging of the internal rechargeable battery. The GQ GMC-300E Plus internal rechargeable battery can be charged via a wall adapter or via a car charger through the car cigarette lighter. By using the adapters, continuous data monitoring is possible. Using either power adapter you will not have to worry about the batteries charge condition or any data loss.”

      It has a USB port for recharging, so ya could just leave it plugged in, with a USB port adapter…

      NRP

      1. NRP

        Thanks for the information. I went back and read all that is on Amazon.

        As it has an internal battery, would a wall plug continuous power source adversely affect the battery – hate to be killed by blowing up unit rather than radiation. lol

        Have you ordered one or currently use one to monitor your home?

        1. @ homebody

          No, you’ll need a converter to plug into the wall outlet… very cheap, very small. Ya can even get those @ 7-2-11.

          I have not gotten one. I’ll just wait for the glow.

        2. NRP

          I think what I’m after is a key chain type of alarm that will simply warn me when radiation is detected – looking at NukAlarm on Amazon.

          Just need to know when to shelter and take the pills. Not looking to do daily monitoring of everything around me or accumulative dosage. Simpler the better for me. :)

        3. @ homebody

          I probably need to apologize for the “I’ll just wait for the glow.” But I sometimes believe that once the Radiation Detector hits the ‘Red’ zone for safety after a Nuke Attack, one is pretty much screwed anyways. Sure ya might have time to drive home, crawl into your shelter, put up some plastic, that all takes time, time exposed to the mushroom cloud and the fallout.

          I guess in my thinking, if the USofA is in an all-out exchange with Russia or whoever the world is pretty much toast. I revert back to Hiroshima again; That Nuke was just a little pimple on the butt of some of the stuff out there now. Take a look at Kens Nuke-Map; tell me where one might be safe, and the Map just shows the Boom Booms not the fallout and the total destruction of the entire infrastructure. PLUS what we would do to the ‘other-guy’ this Third Rock From the Sun would be glowing for a long long time.

          Please remember;

          “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
          – Albert Einstein (contemplating nuclear devastation)

          NRP

        4. Ahhhhh hell, that’s funny, Ken opened his new article with the same quote…. HAHAHAH

          Ahhh well.

          NRP

  23. We have some excellent radiation detectors in our neighborhood, neighbors father down the way who are such Ostriches that we will observe fallout/radiation effects on them, due to their innate normalcy bias and refusal to plan or prepare for anything other than going out on Friday and Saturday nights. So be it. When they are glowing in the dark, we will be reminded of why we choose a different lifestyle and methodology of life.

  24. I live in a city. Raytheon and Texas Instruments just down the road. Not to mention a Joint Reserve Base and the guys building the F- 35 next town over, so… I have learned to stop worrying, but I am not sure about loving the bomb.

    I agree with most comments that China and Russia are not the countries to fear for nuclear war. My bet is on the sand people (people from arid countries, with little tolerance for freedom, religion, etc). I don’t see N. Korea doing an ICBM that will get here. Japan should be worried, S. Korea too.
    I still prep, just not for nukes.

  25. How do you know to shelter, only if you see the blast? And how do you know whether or not its safe to stay in your home (vs bugging out) with plastic on the windows etc? Thanks!

  26. Shawn

    Mass is the best protection against radiation – so you shelter in the basement or next best until you know more about the event. You may waste a couple of hours if nothing has happened but better safe than sorry. Better than running in the open while going distance to a bug out location. Just my opinion.

  27. me i dont think i would want to see what would happen afterward we live in outskirts of a city that IS a target anything else i think i could handle but a nuclear war i would rather be right under the blast and not feel it

  28. The old way we use to prep in the 50’s still works very well today.Bend over,put your head between your legs,and kiss it good bye!Other than that,I hope we only have to go through an EMP instead of an explosive war,if we have one.I think it would be easier to survive.NO war would be better yet.

  29. Who needs a radiation monitor. Keep a pet tarantula in a terrarium. If it starts growing uncontrollably, you will know that you’re screwed. (I’ve seen the movie)

  30. Ok, I am late to the party once again, but I finally got here. I have a couple of questions… I have 2 potential targets generally west of me with one nw and one nnw first is approx 75 miles as crow flies, second is probably 60mi, prevailing wind is west to east, with general air flow patterns missing me for main flow.
    #1 How much time should I have to duck? and get in a preferred protected safe space… somehow I think 48 hours will be too long to get there or build an emergency shelter… this is what the survival books say you have as warning time? #2 also to use the nuke map one needs to know the approximate strength of a devise… What are the Probable EXPected strengths? How can anyone come up with a close estimate without input data?
    NK is said to be clearning their capital city according to several unconfirmed reports and foreign reporters have been told to be ready to move out at 6 am on thursday, that something big is happening… and nuke sniffer deployed for area near Japan… Just go on folks, go to work,stay calm until you see the flash.

  31. It’s not only the distance from the blast that is important, geography counts too. A hill between you and the fireball will give you some immediate protection. Understanding the normal prevailing wind direction will help to work out the direction fallout will travel. Work out the likely targets near and upwind from your home, how far you are from them. Check maps for any hills etc that may shelter you from each site likely to be targeted (line of sight).
    If you are not immediately affected/ burned by the blast, the greatest risk you face is cancer, the impact of that will be determined by the type and quantity of radiation exposure. The greater exposure, the greater likelihood of death; low exposure, increased likelihood of developing cancer within your life.

Comments are closed.