Many of the essential systems needed to survive war would be knocked out, as computers are instantly rendered malfunctioning or unusable. Military and communications systems such as radars, antennas, and missiles, government offices, would be put out of use, as would energy sources such as nuclear power stations and transport and communications systems including airports, airplanes, railways, cars and cell phones.
Ironically the ubiquity of high-tech computing gadgets in the US, Japan and South Korea has made them most vulnerable to EMP attacks.
This is my fear. This type of attack would be catastrophic. It would be far better if nuclear bombs were set of in New York and LA because fewer people would die, ultimately. Go read One Second After by William Forstchen. It will scare the hell out of you.
Will i still be able to log on to FR if not thats gonna suck
Absolutely true.
Everyone should Google "Faraday Cage". Go and get yourself a Sat phone and 500 or more minutes, a laptop, regular cell phone, scanner radio and put them insider the cage to protect them from the EMP.
Power would go out--permanently. So imagine what you would need to survive, and keep that somewhere. Gas (can't keep more than 6 mo at a time, so cycle it), guns, ammo, gold coins, etc.
>It will scare the hell out of you.<
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Speak for yourself. Nothing scares me these days — I put my trust in Osama bin Obama.
Another drink, please.
Methinks utterly implausible at this stage. NK is having enough trouble (witness the prior "test") building what is the first step for a nuclear power: a simple "slam two hemispheres of U238 together" nuke. There is a big technological step from such a dump-truck-delivery nuke to a compact & efficient ICBM-ready plutonium nuke, from which there is subsequently another big technological step to arranging a dozen of those around a hydrogen core and controlling all the detonations to a precise enough degree to achieve the hydrogren fusion blast.
Someday NK might, maybe, get that far. We'll see a whole lotta tests over a long period of time before they do.
Of course if the blast was in such a place that it could hit South Korea and parts of the US (given the size of the Pacific Ocean you just plain can’t hit all of the US and anything on the other side of the Pacific) then it would also hit North Korea, and probably chunks of China and Russia. Now they’re not as high tech but they’d still suffer, and China and Russia would be POed. Admittedly Kim is nuts, but I don’t he’s nuts enough to start a war with him on the other side of the US, Russia AND China.
Yep and the panic of all those addicted to their electronic toys would be the worst. Living Zombies!
Also, see the movie "Until the End of the World" with William Hurt.
Instantly, everything stops.
This is a ridiculous statement.
” Bombing one nuclear power station would render the Japanese archipelago and South Korea uninhabitable. “
Is this hyperbole or not ? If it is not, more than ever I think Kim , especially considering his state of health , etc...is on the verge of taking out Japan and SK . The recent missle tests are further proof . Nobody in Asia will be able to retaliate , and Obambi won’t do sheet . Scary man . I grew up in CT in the 1950’s with the Russian Bear scare & bombs , and here I am in 2009 in Japan with the same worries ! Yikes !
While it would cause a lot of misery and death for the civilian population, it wouldn’t have much effect on our military. They’ve known about EMP for a loooong time, and military hardware is designed to take it.