In case of nuclear attack I will just follow all the instructions on this handy poster from the 1960's.
In other words, the government officially agrees with my private view on how safe we should feel with Obama in charge.
In case of nuclear attack I will just follow all the instructions on this handy poster from the 1960's.
Folks did it in the 60s, why would they think we couldn’t prepare nowadays?
“The advice is based on recent scientific analyses indicating that a nuclear attack is much more survivable if you immediately shield yourself from the lethal radiation that follows a blast, a simple tactic seen as saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Even staying in a car, the studies show, would reduce casualties by more than 50 percent; hunkering down in a basement would be better by far.”
This is all true; however, the vast majority of nuke casualties will be caused by blast and heat (we are postulating that a city is hit with a relatively small bomb, not a missile silo in North Dakota), not radiation. Since blast and heat come QUICKLY after the bomb detonates, you have to have the presence of mind to “duck & cover” ASAP after the detonation (which, hopefully, you weren’t unlucky enough to be looking at, because then you’ll be blind and have much less of a chance to survive). If walking in a city or suburb, get into a doorway or building. If driving, pull over and use your car as shielding. If at home, get under a table or into the basement. And stay the Hell away from glass if you can.
As for the radiation, time and distance are your friends. Distance is easy - if you’re far enough away, you won’t even be exposed. If you’re in the fallout path, distance means the density of what is between you and the fallout (which is why being underground is best, the dirt and rock attenuate the radiation to a great degree). Time is also your friend, as radiation decays over time, and relatively quickly:
“Fallout from ‘regular’ nuclear weapons, shortly after the detonation, begins to decay at the rate of a ten-fold decrease for each seven-fold increase in time.
As an example, after the fallout has stopped and the level peaked, the base line reading is an hour later. Say it is 1,000 R, seven hours later (1X7) it will be down to 100. After another 49 hours (7x7) it will be down to 10. 343 hours later (7x7x7 or 14 more days) the radiation should be down to 1. That is still too high to do more than go out for a few minutes to check things. You need to wait until the level is 0.01 before venturing out and staying out, though if needed, some time can be spent outside during the day if most of the time is spent in a shelter.
While 1000 R is a realistic starting number, many places won’t have nearly that much and the time in shelter will be much less, if you have a good shelter. The less you are taking while in the shelter, the more you can take outside for a few minutes.”
Jerry D. Young [not me] at http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=29414
I presume that by “regular nuclear weapons” the writer meant “non-radiation-enhanced” weapons like a bomb encased in Cobalt-60 (which has an extremely long half-life). With terrorists, I think that them getting hold of the weapon and delivering it is roughly at the edge of their capacity, so I’m not too worried about AQ having enhanced radiation bombs.
As Turbo Pig mentioned, air filtration is key. Being under 3 feet of steel-reinforced concrete won’t do you much good if you’re breathing in unfiltered air. Another good thing to have is either a shower-cap or a pair of scissors - because the fallout will get in your hair if your head isn’t covered (with a shower cap being easy to wash off or discard), and if your hair is exposed then shave it all off and thoroughly wash yourself outside of the main shelter area.
Another cause of casualties that you can do a LOT about will be those caused by disruption of society. The principal problem will be lack of food, water and medical care - and you can stockpile all of these items, enough to last 2-4 weeks, and longer if possible. I am not counting on ANY help. However, if the strike is relatively isolated (i.e. one or two cities), then some kind of order will likely have been restored within 2-4 weeks, “order” including deliveries of food and a fleet of water trucks (who’s going to trust that tap water is free of radiation or diseases from all of the dead people and animals?). BUT, until that order is restored, you have to eat and drink, and also have some means of treating minor wounds, infections and sickness. Note that sickness from radiation will produce a LOT of “intestinal distress,” so have plenty of anti-diarrhea pills. Even if there’s little or no radiation exposure, those little pills will help to prevent a sick person from getting dehydrated.
Regarding medical, here is an article that speaks about 10 OTC medications to stockpile: http://www.survivalblog.com/2010/12/ten_essential_otc_medications.html
Anyone interested in learning more about surviving a nuclear war (or one-time smaller event) would do LOTS worse than getting a copy of “Nuclear War Survival Skills” by Cresson Kearney. Electronic copy available at http://www.oism.org/nwss/s73p904.htm