Surviving Nuclear Attack
By Dr. Glenn Mollette
President Donald Trump has vowed to meet more North Korea threats with "power the likes of which the world has never seen" and Kim Jong-un has responded with a plan for a nuke attack on the US island of Guam. Plans are being made for a horror scenario we must take seriously.
Most of us want to be confident that America with the aid of Japan and our strategic defense system can stop any missile attack. We know we have plenty of bombs to strike North Korea in return. Just one of our submarines named "USS Kentucky" has two hundred nuclear bombs most of which are more powerful than the one bomb that struck Hiroshima. This is frightening that enough power is on one submarine to take out an entire country or more. Such a scenario makes me wonder how much can the planet stand? If four or five countries ever get into an unleashing of nuclear weapons on each other I believe it would be more than our planet could survive. If our planet could stay intact the planet might take hundreds of years to ever recoup from the devastation. The planet is amazing but mankind has developed the ability to annihilate our beautiful planet.
Business Insider printed a story a couple of years ago that shortly after the end of World War II, the scientists who developed the atomic bombs dropped on Japan tried to envision the kind of nuclear event that could lead to the destruction of not just cities, but the entire world.
A recently declassified document shared by nuclear historian Alex Wellerstein gives the verdict that scientists at the Los Alamos laboratory and test site reached in 1945. They found that "it would require only in the neighborhood of 10 to 100 Supers of this type" to put the human race in peril.
With so many atomic bombs now existing in the world it would be fathomable that ten to a 100 could be unleashed given the right scenario of hostility between enough countries.
No one is thinking that many will be unleashed by anyone. What if North Korea successfully unleashes several of their stocked nuclear bombs? What if we cannot intercept them all? Our defense may be great but even the greatest defense systems have flaws and holes. How many would die? If North Korea unleashes one then we know our President Trump may unleash one on North Korea or take out tens of thousands of lives. The causalities could end up in the millions.
If Kim Jong-un launches one toward our mainland there is no guarantee it would hit Seattle or Chicago. It could end up hitting any town or even rural area in the United States. Do you think you are safe just because you in an obscure town? If nuclear missiles are fired we are all at risk.
Please keep in mind that everything will be interrupted. With any kind of national crisis gasoline shortages occur. Grocery store supplies might be interrupted. Power grids could be demolished or interrupted. There are many ways our lives could be interrupted if we survive an attack.
The following are things experts recommend you can do to protect yourself, your family and your home if you believe an attack is imminent. Thanks to the UK Sun for supplying this information
- Build an Emergency Supply Kit, which includes items like non-perishable food, water, a battery-powered or hand-crank radio, extra flashlights and batteries. You may want to prepare a kit for your workplace and a portable kit to keep in your car in case you are told to evacuate.
- Make a Family Emergency Plan. Your family may not be together when disaster strikes, so it is important to know how you will contact one another, how you will get back together and what you will do in case of an emergency.
- Find out from officials if any public buildings in your community have been designated as fallout shelters. If none have been designated, make your own list of potential shelters. These places would include basements or the windowless central area of middle floors in high-rise buildings.
What to do during a nuclear blast?
The following are guidelines for what to do in the event of a nuclear explosion.
- Listen for official information via online, radio or TV and follow the instructions provided by emergency response personnel.
- If an attack warning is issued, take cover as quickly as you can, below ground if possible, and stay there until instructed to do otherwise.
- Find the nearest building, preferably built of brick or concrete, and go inside to avoid any radioactive material outside.
- If better shelter, such as a multi-story building or basement can be reached within a few minutes, go there immediately.
- Go as far below ground as possible or in the center of a tall building. The goal is to put as many walls and as much concrete, brick and soil between you and the radioactive material outside.
- Expect to stay inside for at least 24 hours unless told otherwise by authorities.
What to do if you are caught outside?
- Do not look at the flash or fireball - it can blind you.
- Take cover behind anything that might offer protection.
- Lie flat on the ground and cover your head. If the explosion is some distance away, it could take 30 seconds or more for the blast wave to hit.
- Take shelter as soon as you can, even if you are many miles from ground zero where the attack occurred - radioactive fallout can be carried by the winds for hundreds of miles.
- If you were outside during or after the blast, get clean as soon as possible, to remove radioactive material that may have settled on your body.
- Remove your clothing to keep radioactive material from spreading. Removing the outer layer of clothing can remove up to 90% of radioactive material.
- If practical, place your contaminated clothing in a plastic bag and seal or tie the bag.
- When possible, take a shower with lots of soap and water to help remove radioactive contamination. Do not scrub or scratch the skin.
- Wash your hair with shampoo or soap and water. Do not use conditioner in your hair because it will bind radioactive material to your hair, keeping it from rinsing out easily.
What to do after a nuclear blast?
Decay rates of the radioactive fallout are the same for any size nuclear device.
However, the amount of fallout will vary based on the size of the device and its proximity to the ground. Therefore, it might be necessary for those in the areas with highest radiation levels to shelter for up to a month.
The heaviest fallout would be limited to the area at or downwind from the explosion and 80 percent of the fallout would occur during the first 24 hours.
People in most of the areas that would be affected could be allowed to come out of shelter within a few days and, if necessary, evacuate to unaffected areas.
Keep listening to the radio and television for news about what to do, where to go and places to avoid.
Stay away from damaged areas. Stay away from areas marked 'radiation hazard' or 'HAZMAT.' Remember that radiation cannot be seen, smelled or otherwise detected by human senses.
The bottom line is that we all hope and pray that China, Japan and other nations will work with us to help us resolve this lingering nightmare with Kim Jong-un. The problem is that it won't be over. There will still be a chance of this recurring nightmare that will come back from North Korea or even very soon Iran. The scenario of a world holocaust is becoming too imminent. We must seriously answer this question, "Will the world ever really rest with North Korea having nuclear weapons?" Another question is can we really allow this to continue? Do we sit back and allow Iran to put us in the same position in the next couple of years?
Glenn Mollette is a syndicated columnist and author of twelve books. He is read in all fifty states.
Contact him at GMollette@aol.com. Like his facebook page at www.facebook.com/glennmollette.
