Posted on 12/16/2010 7:39:40 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
The Obama administration wants to convey how to react to a nuclear attack but is worried about seeming alarmist.
The advice is based on recent scientific analyses showing 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.
But a problem for the Obama administration is how to spread the word without seeming alarmist about a subject that few politicians care to consider, let alone discuss. So officials are proceeding gingerly in a campaign to educate the public.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Small point;
There are a LOT more than three types of radiation. There are three types of lethal radiation generated by a nuclear bomb detonation.
Just what is “survival” after a nuclear attack? Burnt skin and dying of cancer 10 years later?
The Government Printing Office printed a good book years ago (which is now unavailable) called “ The Effects of Nuclear Weapons”. There also used to be some excellent Civil Defense publications.
Having a supply of food is an excellent idea.
The most important perception is that the US and its current leaders, project weakness. Anyone that wants to make a point will take a swipe at us, and we will roll over and curl up in a ball. Witness our handling of terrorists. I bet we wipe their a$$es for them when required.
Only if you want to drown in a big gob of pig fat.
I have a bunch of civil defense radiation meters from the 60’s. Sure they work, but you have to get them calibrated and the total cost is a lot. Plus they’re ancient.
I’d really like to see a new ‘consumer’ level geiger setup that can go up to 500rads or so like the old ones at a reasonable cost.
The first comment should be read as if being declared by John Kerry, a la, ‘in a fashion reminiscent of ‘jen-jis’ (Genghis) Khan...”
What if you were in the region where you get burnt skin and die of cancer 10 years later if you don't take precautions but live pretty well if you did take cover?
I don't know whether I missed the duck & cover drills because they were passe by the mid 1970s, or if having a school less than a mile away from the end of a SAC runway made survival drills a little pointless (or maybe we spent all our time heading for shelter every time the sky got cloudy lest a "godless tornado" attack us).
Updated and Expanded 1987 Edition
Cresson H. Kearny
Get it on line for free Read it, learn it, learn to live.
The aftermath will be less than pleasant, to be sure.
Shades of the 1960s. I grew up outside of a major SAC bomber base, with the bonus of a large nearby array of Titan II ICBM.
I grew up with a target painted on my house......
I’ve looked at all the models you can get now. Nothing is really ‘affordable’ that’s new. Something like a CDV-715 that’s newly made, all-analog, shouldn’t cost $250 or something at this point.
Back in the 60’s when civil defense subsidized them they were very affordable, I’d like to see some made for the public at $50-100 range for a newly-made cdv-715 style.
Duck and Cover coming from Barry’s mouth would be oh-so reassuring! /sarc
As usual, it's all about me. What are the lives of a few million people compared to the reputation of Hussein the Great?
I was in Nukes in the military and had some fairly decent training. Don’t get me wrong, but they are not as bad as every one thinks. They have been built up as an “end all” by the same folks that bring you global warming....chicken lil’ type stuff. Dropped on a metropolitan area where there are a lot of people and a lot of people will die...just like any other large bomb! And as for the tactical version as a last ditch effort to keep from being over-run will kill everything in a 200 meter area, but life will go on. After learning a bit about them I am not as scared as I used to be.
Actually, he just doesn’t want to share these ideas because it’s racist, since poor black people don’t have basements to hide in, and inner city dwellers don’t usually have cars to shield them.
So this would mostly save rich people.
Sounds like Obama is preparing the public for Al Qaeda’s first suitcase nuke attack on American soil.
If you're standing in the open right at Ground Zero, you are screwed. But consider if you're in the suburbs, 15-20 miles from ground zero. If you immediately head for the basement on word that an attack is coming, you stand a good chance of survival, both immediate and long term.
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