GETTING
FOOD AFTER A NUCLEAR WAR
By Duncan
Long
No matter how much
freeze-dried food or grain you may have stored away in
your
survival stores,
if a nuclear war comes to pass, sooner or later your food
will
run
out. Then what will you do for
food?
If you're in an
area with few survivors, traveling to your local grocery
stores
MIGHT be of
help. Food in sealed containers
would be safe to eat if you were
careful to wipe
off any fallout dust on the container before opening it.
Radiation doesn't
make food dangerous and only slightly alters it so that
it
loses little of
its food value.
But chances are
good that any store will be stripped during a pre-war panic.
Even if it were
full at the time of the attack, time is against
you. Foods
have a finite life
during which their nutritional content remains
high. Once
this time is exceeded,
the nutritional value of the food gradually drops off.
Food will remain
eatable for some time but it will not necessarily supply
all
your nutritional
needs.
Nutritional shelf
lives of stored foods are short.
Most canned food (whether
in cans or jars),
has a life of only 6 months (though the food will be
eatable
for
longer). Canned meats and non-citrus
fruits last a bit longer; they have
some food value
for up to a year.
Evaporated milk
has a nutritional life of 6 months; bouillon, instant
cream,
nuts, cereals, and
hydrogenated (or anti-oxidant treated) fats/vegetable oil
all have nutritional
shelf lives of a year.
About the only things
worth eating after a year are coffee, tea, cocoa,
candy (that isn't
nearly 100% sugar), or spices like sugar, salt, pepper,
etc. So even IF
you have a grocery store to use for supplies, the
nutritional
value of the food
will be nearly nill after a year.
Foraging?
Maybe. But if you're in
an area where the plants are producing
enough food to support
you, chances are good that there'll be a large human
population as
well. If you have to compete
with others for wild food sources,
chances are there
won't be enough to support you.
Foraging also takes a lot of
energy for the caloric
return to carry out; you burn up nearly as much energy
as you
gain. So don't plan on doing
more than supplementing your larder
through foraging
unless you're living in a very remote area with a lot of
food
just waiting for
you to pick it off the plants.
Hunting?
Again, much the same argument can be made against it as is
with
foraging.
If the animals survive, a large population of humans will
probably
be competing with
you for the food. Hunting could
supply supplemental meat for
your diet but probably
won't be a main source unless you're really out in the
wilds.
So most of us who
are planning on surviving a nuclear war for more than a
few years need to
be able to raise our food or have a skill (like
dentistry,
medical work, etc.)
which can be bartered for food.
Is gardening or
farming possible in a radioactive fallout contaminated
environ-
ment?
Yes.
Fallout from a nuclear
weapon is different from that of commercial radioactive
waste.
While the waste from a nuclear reactor may last for thousands or
even
tens of thousands
of years, radiation from a nuclear weapon decays very
quickly
to a safe
level. (The flip side of this
is that fallout is initially more
dangerous than
radioactive waste since the levels of radiation it gives off
are
higher.)
Even in the shadow
of a very dirty ground blast, the levels of
radiation will sink
to safe levels in a relatively short
time. This means
that
you could be gardening
in a very contaminated area within a year's time if you
had
to.
Though long-term
dangers from such activities may remain to show up in
20 or 30 years in
such an area, if the choice is between starving in a few
months or MAYBE
having a radiation-related disease like leukemia or cancer
30
years down the road,
it shouldn't be too hard to decide.
Too, fallout is
like sand or dust. It isn't a
liquid that runs into the
earth.
With care, even in areas of maximum fallout, the top soil--along
with
the fallout--could
be removed and the land used for
gardening. If you
had
access to heavy
earth-moving equipment, even full-scale farming could be
carried out after
removing several inches of top soil.
If removing the
soil is not possible, it's also possible to plow fallout
under so that it's
below ground. This allows plants
to obtain nutrient
from the soil while
the earth acts as density shielding to lower the
radiation
to levels that will
not harm either the plants or the person growing them.
While this isn't
as ideal as actually removing the contaminated soil, it is
an
easier
alternative. The produce produced
on such land will not be quite
as safe to eat from
a long-term health point of view but, again, it beats
starving.
More dangerous to
plants than radiation will be the ultraviolet radiation
created by damage
to the ozone by nuclear weapons.
This damage, like fallout,
is fairly short-lived,
however. The ozone layer will
renew itself so that, by
a year after the
worst of a nuclear war is over, a less harsh environment
for
growing plants will
again be available.
Since it now appears
that the problems of a nuclear winter have been
exaggerated and,
even if they should occur, will be over after the first year
as well, things
would be fairly decent for gardening within a year's
time.
(Fallout, ozone
damage, and nuclear winter are three good reasons to have
stores of food to
get through that first year.)
If it were necessary
to grow plants in the open during the first year, some
plants are more
resistant than others to ultraviolet
radiation. The
best
are wheat, soybeans,
rye, barley, alfalfa, and corn (all of which are
excellent
sources of
nutrients). Though high levels
of ultraviolet light may stunt these
plants' growth somewhat,
they'd still produce food.
Best bet would be
a greenhouse created with sheets of plastic or the like.
The
plastic would cut
down on ultraviolet light and the enclosed area would
help
you to control pests
and maintain a warm temperature if that should be a
problem.
Provided you've
had the foresight to purchase non-hybrid seeds, you could produce crops for
your family for years to come in such an
environment. (Hybrid seed would
be great the first year, but the seeds you get from the hybrid plants may
not grow to create a second crop.)
Seeds.
Some good sources of seeds are:
Cross Seed Company, RR #1, Bunker
Hill, KS 67626;
M & M Enterprises, Box 64, Island Lake, IL 69942; Seeds
of
Survival, 228 W.
North St., Whitewater, WI 53190; and Vegetable Seed, Box
192,
Madison, GA
30650. Check the stores in your
area as well since they'll have a
selection of seeds
tailored to grow well in your area (again, avoid
hybrids.)
Despite tales of
scientists growing wheat from seeds encased with Egyptian
mummies, seeds have
a finite shelf life in the real world.
Each additional
year that seed is
stored, a higher percentage of it loses its ability to
germinate. Therefore, seed should be replaced
every year if at all possible.
Actually, this is
good news; it forces you to practice planting and growing
the
seeds you've been
storing.
If you grow plants
in a contaminated environment or forage for plants to eat
in
areas of fallout,
you can process them so that they are
safe. Again,
remember
that fallout is
like dust, not a liquid that can penetrate material.
If you carefully
peel and clean the plants, most of the fallout will be removed
with
the outer layers
of plant material so that you can eat them without fear
of
ingesting radioactive
materials.
Fruits or vegetables
with smooth skins (like tomatoes or green peppers)
can be cleaned by
washing (though peeling is probably safer).
Plants whose eatable
parts come from the ground can be more thoroughly cleansed if you first remove
the top layer of soil around their base (which may have some fallout dust
in it) before digging up the plant.
Eatable tubers and roots should be very thoroughly
washed.
A vegetarian diet
with everything your body needs to stay healthy is not too easy to maintain
in the best of times. In a
post-nuclear war environment, it
would be nearly impossible. Meat
will be all but essential for survival.
(Ideally, you'll have a diet mix of somewhere around 15% protein,
52% carbohydrates, and 33% fat.)
How do you get the
meat processed (whether you're hunting, discover "wild"
domestic animals,
or are raising farm animals) so that it is safe to eat?
First, you need
to study the way the animal is behaving.
Does it look healthy or sick?
If animals have
ingested fallout (on grass or other food sources) but have
NOT
become sick from
radiation exposure, they're safe to eat if you follow a
few
precautions. (Such animals will also probably remain
healthy enough to
live as long as
non-exposed animals so that they can be used for breeding
stock; don't kill
what you don't need.)
When radioactive
contamination is ingested by animals, it is stored in
certain
locations in their
bodies. The habit for post-nuclear
war survivors to
learn is that of
avoiding eating parts of the animal that will be
collecting
the radioactive
materials. If you avoid the parts
with high concentrations of
contamination, you
will be able to remain healthy while still being able to
take advantage of
the available meat.
Parts to
avoid: thyroid glands, kidneys,
liver, and meat next to the bones as
well as the marrow
in the bones. Avoid eating these
and eat only muscle meat,
you'll be in good
shape. Another important precaution
is to thoroughly cook
the meat so that
ALL bacteria are killed in the meat; since radiation
lowers
resistance to disease,
the animal may have higher than normal concentrations
of bacteria in it
and you will be less able to fight such bacteria
off.
AVOID EATING RED
MEAT; always cook it thoroughly.
Remember that the
waste parts of the carcass and parts you shouldn't eat
are probably
contaminated. Bury the parts
in an area where they can not
contaminate your
water or crops.
If an animal is
sick, don't kill it. Though the
meat may not contaminated
with radiation,
the animal is sick because of some sort of
disease-causing
virus or bacteria
(radiation causes a lowered resistance to disease,
remember).
Meat from these
animals can cause food poisoning since cooking the
meat will only kill
bacteria or viruses in the meat but won't rid it of the
toxins the
micro-organisms have produced. The
meat will be poisoned and no
amount of cooking
will rid it of the poison.
You may be able
to nurse the animal back to health, too.
If so, you could
eat it later or
use it for breeding stock. If
the animal dies, dispose of the
carcass carefully
since it will be contaminated and dangerous to your
health.
If the sick animal
is in a herd or flock, immediately separate it from the
others so that the
disease can't spread (lowered resistance
again). Keep
a
herd's area extra
clean so that diseases can't get started, too.
Food will be hard
to come by following a nuclear war.
But radioactive fallout
doesn't penetrate
or contaminate as much as many people
think. Provided
you
have a little know-how
and the foresight to plant some fruit trees, save some
seed, or take other
survival precautions, you and your family can produce
food
and survive long
after a nuclear war has come to an end.
============================================================================
The author of this
article, Duncan Long, is well-known as the writer of many
gun, self-sufficiency,
and survival books. His firearms
books are available
from Paladin Press,
P. O. Box 1307, Boulder, CO 80306 (303) 443-7250 (call
for
free
catalog). Long's NUCLEAR WAR
SURVIVAL is available for $14 from Long
Survival Publications,
115 Riverview Dr., Wamego, KS 66547.
Long's sci-fi
book, ANTI-GRAV
UNLIMITED released from Avon Books (available from local
book
stores or from Avon
Books, 105 Madison Ave., NY, NY 10016; for autographed
copy, send $4
to: Long Survival Publications,
address above). The
author's
SURVIVING MAJOR
CHEMICAL/BIOLOGCIAL ACCIDENTS AND C/B WARFARE is
available from Loompanics Unlimited,
Box 1197, Port Townsend, WA 98368 for $15.
Gathered bit by bits by the Cybermonk!
Reprinted from:
American Survival Guide 11/91
Planning For
Survival
By C.E. Teal
In light of recent
events, such as the Persian Gulf War,
terrorism, and economic instability, many individuals and
families are taking a fresh look
at the dreaded "S-word," survivalism.
As with any beginners, these people need some sort of
plan for
these uncharted waters. I hope
that this article can
give some
useful guidance to those new
to the field, and perhaps some new
insights
to others who have been
left to their own
devices in coming to grips
with this virtually all-inclusive field.
This plan consists of nine major points: 1.
Determination; 1.
Becoming/staying
healthy; 3. Allocating
your Budget;
4.
De
veloping plans of
action; 5. Have a "bug-out"
kit; 6.
Plan for
duration;
7. Get training; 8.
Practice; 9. Don't
advertise.
The first requirement
to insuring
your (and
your
family's)
longevity
is DETERMINATION. You
must want to
survive. Contact others
upon whom you might rely (and
whom may likewise rely upon you) in
a crisis.
This is not a
game, although games can play
a part in the training aspect. If we are to survive as
individuals,
as
families, as a
society, we cannot approach this
as
a one-
person show. It will take cooperation
of the highest order. The stakes
are literally life and death.
Many people take
the attitude that "If it happens,
I wouldn't
want to live anyway, " This is
an attitude which almost
guarantees defeat or death. A
husband,
father, or single
mother with
this
attitude is virtually
condemning his or her
family
to a similar
fate.
BECOME/STAY HEALTHY. Every-one in the family
or
group should
get
a complete
medical, dental and vision
checkup.
Find your
weaknesses
and limitations so you
may cope with
them, before they
take you by surprise Get caught up on immunizations
such as
tetanus,
hepatitis, and measles.
If eyeglasses or contacts are
needed, get at least one
spare pair, or save old
ones.
Stock up on cleaning
solution if you wear contacts. Work to bring your
teeth up to the healthiest level
possible. A toothache can be a
major problem even in normal
times when a dentist is available.
Imagine trying to make critical decisions while suffering
with a
toothache when there
may be few, if
any, dentists in
operation.
Make sure your feet
are in good condition. They may someday
be your only mode of transportation. Begin and maintain
an exercise
program which balances strength
with endurance and flexibility.
Running,
swimming, and stair climbing
are all excellent
conditioners.
ALLOCATE
PART OF YOUR BUDGET. Acquire supplies
as
your budget
allows. Be
practical; set priorities. For
example: set aside $10 per month
for weaponry (including ammunition
and cleaning
supplies,
($10 per month for
clothing (if
you
don't
have the
proper
clothing already on hand.
Three-piece
suits
or tennis outfits have
very limited survival applications) ,
another $10 a month for reserve food and medical
supplies, and so on. If money
is tight, you can alternate purchases from month to
month.
The
important
thing is to make
some
sort
of survival-based
acquisition
regularly, or at every
opportunity. In making
survival investments,
you should consider the following points:
a)
Might you actually
need it (Does it serve a
legitimate survival
need, such as food) ?
b)
Do you have the skill to use it
properly, and would you
be able to repair it
when
it inevitably breaks down?
c)
Will it need something else,
such as electricity,
gas, heat, or water to
operate?
d)
How many/much will you need, and
how long do you expect
it to last
(see
Plan
For
Duration) :
e)
Is it practical for the conditions
you
anticipate, such as proper
clothing for the climate?
DEVELOP PLANS OF
ACTION. You should discuss with your family or
group
the conditions under which
you would
run
(Where?) or
stay; whether to
hide (For how
long?) or
fight (Whom? How?) .
Every
member of the group must
be in agreement with
the final
plan.
One
dissident could destroy
all
your
intentions; for
instance by "setting-out" the group to an adversary.
You
should
also develop "backup"
plans
to
cover various
contingencies such as those
mentioned. Plan for
the worst-case scenario
and work down from there.
HAVE
A "BUG-OUT" KIT. Keep
a short-term
(up
to
one
week)
survival
kit handy in case you
must leave
NOW.
Remember the priorities:
shelter,
water,
food, medical
supplies,
weapons, communications.
Ideally, you should have several
kits;
one for
each member of the
family and group, another one
in each vehicle in case a crisis occurs at an unexpected
moment (as they usually do)
.
And a large cache
of supplies away from the home,
in a
place
safe from discovery or
disaster; in the
event
you must
evacuate your home quickly, as
in the case of fire,
earthquake or war. Each of these kits or caches should be planned
to supplement and extend the capabilities of the next smallest
kit.
Avoid making your personal
bug-out kit too heavy to run
with; you may have to
carry it long distances,
quickly.
PLAN
FOR DURATION. Try to realistically anticipate how
long you
expect
your scenario may
last, and add a
little
more
to the estimate as a buffer
against hortsightedness.
Do
you expect your disaster scenario to last for
days (such
as waiting for disaster relief
after a major storm,
fire, or
earth quake)
,
months
(i.e., a major strike
by
unions;
re
building after a
disaster) , or
years (such as being
caught in
the clutches of a
dictatorship, foreign
invasion,
or persecution)
?
Try
to be realistic in your preparations. Plan
for
the consumption
of food (calories per person per day,
plus other essential
nutrients)
,
water (gallons per
person
per
day, for
drinking, cooking and sanitation)
,
ammunition (as much as
can be obtained, with a suggested
minimum of 500 rounds per weapon)
,
air
quality (while in
shelter,
or
masks
for
outside),
medical
supplies (including
prescription medicines), and so
on.
Some
of
your scenarios may look
unlikely in
the
context
of
present
conditions, but it only
takes an open-eyed look at the
world, the
nation, or the
neighborhood, to see
the potential
for
frightening situations
to rapidly develop which
would not
allow time for preparation after
the fact.
For
instance, note that
many people reacting to a disaster often converge on all
the
nearest stores for provisions
such as food,
candles, bottled
water,
batteries, and so on.
Frequently, the crowd gets
impatient, not wanting
or waiting to be left without essentials
for themselves or their
families. Occasionally, rioting and
looting begin, feeding
upon itself as the unprepared start to panic.
Your
aim must be to store adequate supplies
for
all intended
members of your group for the
longest time that you will likely
be
on
your
own, with self-sufficiency
being
your
goal. The federal government
recommends having at least three to five
days supplies on
hand, to sustain you until relief
agencies can get
into
action. The more serious
the crisis, the
longer
you may have to wait for
outside help.
If
you are able, lay in extra
supplies for a
few additional persons
who will, most likely, show up
either on their own, or
with members of the group ("My mother was visiting at the time; I
couldn't
just leave her") . As
pragmatic as you must
be, you must also
not surrender your humanity completely.
Otherwise, you are no better
than the predators you may be fleeing.
Of
course,
there
is a practical limit to
how much you can be
expected to cope with.
Examine your own conscience on this issue.
A
plan must also be drawn
up to deal
with
waste management.
Essential
"luxuries" such as toilet
paper,
soap,
and proper
means of disposing of human waste
and garbage with become major
issues during a survival situation.
Goods and services
we have
always taken for
granted may no longer be available.
You must also plan
to cope with your people's emotional survival. The abrupt change in
lifestyle, the day to day fight
to stay alive, will take its
toll psychologically if not treated quickly
and
continuously. Find things
to alleviate
boredom,
such as
games
or
projects.
Give every able
person in the group
a job they will be responsible
for. Even children can be instructed
to secure trash, act as
lookouts, or help with food
preparation or
gathering
supplies. Also attempt
to continue with their
education,
albeit with a different emphasis. Find
duties
which
require a person
to study the situation and come up with
a solution. Hold
meetings to keep everyone current on what's
happening, and conduct frequent
and regular classes for everyone in survival arts. Keep your
people, and
yourself, busy. Despair may be
your worst enemy.
GET
TRAINING. Your group should learn how to use
weapons
effectively.
Safety,
maintenance,
handling
malfunctions,
and marksmanship are all
of equal importance in a survival
context. Because this
is an area where mistakes can be fatal,
instruction
should
be sought from qualified professionals, such
as
the
National Rifle
Association.
Also, everyone should
study unarmed
self-defense
under
a qualified
instructor;
one
who teaches
combative, not tournament
techniques.
Tactics are another important area of study. Learn how
best to
utilize your weapons under various
conditions and
environments,
such as
snow,
rain, or at night. There
are
several reputedly
good schools for this type of
study. There are also
many books
such as military
manuals which can be of help, if
accompanied by lots of
practice.
Study first aid diligently,
as this is one of the most
essential areas of self help study. The American Red Cross
has
excellent,
inexpensive courses on CPR and basic
and
advanced first
aid.
Everyone
should be encouraged to
take and
pass
such a
course. A study of improvised
medicines and first-aid equipment
would also be useful. Some community
colleges
offer non-credit
courses
in
herbology, folk medicine,
and edible
wild plants.
There are many very
good reference books on the subject.
Another variation on this theme would be the study of medicinal minerals.
You might seriously consider taking an Emergency
Medical
Technician
course
(or a Paramedic course
if already
an
EMT) and
joining a volunteer ambulance
corps.
Not only would you
be
contributing
to
a vital community
function,you
would
also be
gaining
practical, real-life,
hands-on
experience
which no
course
can give by itself.
Remember,
in a crisis, your body
does what is has been trained
to do. The untrained
reaction to crisis is
usually panic Practical experience aids tremendously in overcoming the panic
which accompanies disaster.
Fieldcraft is another
valuable area of study. Learn the difference between, and uses
of, cover and
concealment. Learn
how to
survive in rural or urban
wilderness, how to find
or construct proper
shelter, how to gather food and
collect and purify water, the
use of correct sanitation procedures,
basic land navigation, and
much more.
PRACTICE. Conduct realistic simulations with your equipment and
your people to gain valuable
experience and
confidence working
together.
Get the bugs out while
it's relatively
easy. Learn what
works and what doesn't.
Go
to the firing range
often, preferably
when
you
or your
group
can use it without
onlookers.
Practice
on human-shaped
targets,
using
tactics. Train in firing
techniques
for real
world
situations (such as varying
weather
conditions, target
distance
and size. Learn different
firing
positions, practice in-house
techniques, etc.)
. Always rigidly enforce appropriate
safety procedures while training with weapons.
As an
EMT, you can work on an ambulance
or in
the emergency
room
to practice and to accustom
yourself to the
suffering of
others. It's certainly not
pleasant, but it is crucial
in over coming the shock of seeing
something happen suddenly, perhaps
to someone
you love. This allows
you to get on with
treating the patient rather
than wasting valuable seconds in panic. With
practice,
reaction becomes almost
automatic, and
confidence
is
gained. Without
practice, hard-earned skills are gradually lost.
You should try to incorporate your survival skills
into every day
life, making it a normal part
of your existence.
Don't,
however, carry it to extremes,
such as walking around in public wearing cammies with a 10-inch knife on
your belt. Be discreet.
Shooting
and
hand-to-hand
practice,
ambulance duty,
making your own
clothes, and canning your own
food;
all these
skills
and more will not only add to your
survival
repertoire,
they will enhance the
quality of your life, as you
become less
dependent on "the system" and
more confident in your own
abilities.
Learn
the strengths and weaknesses
of your
equipment, your
people, and yourself. Without
practice and effort you are just
wasting time and money, and someone close to you could
die
needlessly.
DON'T ADVERTISE. Keep
your actions and intentions as
low-profile as possible. You could risk discovery and the loss
of everything you have been working
for, or wind up with a lot of
people on YOUR doorstep in a
crisis; people whom
you
cannot
support,
and
who may have no positive
survival value. If you
intend to support
dependents, prepare for them
with your supplies.
One
last
thought. Because predatory
people
are
out
there, firearms are an
essential element of survival planning.
Unfortunately,
they have been abused
frequently enough
to
give the
whole
survival
movement a bad reputation
in the
eyes
of the general
media, who too often seem to
be looking to discredit and ridicule
the movement. Survivalists should respect
firearms and
view
them
as tools to protect
what
they
have:
their
lives,
families,
homes, and
provisions; not as weapons
of conquest.
The
more
you
prepare, the more ready
you must
be
to defend against those
who don't.
AMERICAN SURVIVAL
GUIDE/NOVEMBER 1991
The Possible Effects
of Nuclear Weapons & a Realistic Scenario for the
Days after the Initial Offensive
(NOTE FROM SYSOP
- this article has some SERIOUS errors, omissions, and falsehoods in it.
I will try to add some footnotes on these later. I'm sure the author tried
to do the best job he could. However, if the work that you use as a reference
is wrong, your summation will be just as wrong.)
The largest bomb
of the Second World War exploded with a force equivalent to thirteen kilotons,
thirteen thousand tons, of dynamite
(TNT). This bomb was called "Little
Boy".
The ironic thing
about the name is that when the bomb is compared to the warheads of today,
the only word that comes to mind is
little. Most of our modern warheads
are a
hundred times as
powerful, or more.
To give you a little
perspective, let's say that a fifteen kiloton nuclear missile exploded over
New York City while most of the population was out to
lunch. A report from the
Secretary-General of the United Nations says out of the eight million people
in the city, approximately one million people will die on the first
day.
If a one megaton
bomb was exploded over Detroit, approximately 640,000
people would die
immediately.
If a twenty-five
megaton bomb exploded, approximately 3.2 million people would die out of
the four million people living there.
(1)
A megaton is equivalent to a million tons of
TNT.
It would take 10,000
railroad freight cars to carry one million tons of TNT.
(2)
The following is
the possible outcome of an explosion of a one megaton nuclear warhead over
the city of Detroit, Michigan. At
ground zero, directly underneath the bomb, there would be a crater measuring
one thousand feet wide and two hundred feet deep.
(3)
There would be a highly radioactive rim extending two thousand feet
from the center,
(4) this would keep
unprotected persons from entering this circle for nearly twenty-five
years. Up to 1.7 miles from the
center you would not see any
signs of buildings.
All buildings within
this circle would be completely destroyed. Between 1.7 and 2.7 miles from
the center, you might be able to see the infrastructures of the more heavily
built buildings.
(5) There would be almost no survivors
until after 2.7 miles from ground zero.
(6)
Up until approximately eight miles out, houses would be flattened
from
the over-pressure
produced by the bomb.
(7)
From 2.7 to 4.7 miles, all light walled structures would be destroyed
and
the contents of
the top floors of the strongest buildings would be blown out
into the
street.
(8)
The over-pressure, about five pounds per square inch, would
cause
the windows and
frames of all buildings to be blown out.
(9)
In the band from 4.7 miles to 6.3 miles out, the 3 p.s.i. over-pressure
would cause people to be blown out of modern
office buildings and would cause
millions of flying projectiles.
These projectiles
are capable of killing anyone they hit.
The winds would
cause people to be blown against walls with a force many
times greater than
gravity.
(10)
Up to fifteen miles from the explosion, the winds would cause
objects to fly with
a force capable of fracturing the skull (of a human)
fifty percent of
the time.
(11)
The bomb would cause the death of approximately 640,000 people on
the first
day.
(12)
There are approximately 5.75 billion people in the
world. The
NUCLEAR
ALMANAC says that
approximately 20 - 160 million civilians would be
immediately killed
by a nuclear attack on present United States' strategic
weapon bases by
one megaton warheads (as you know, the Soviets have 100
megaton
warheads). the radioactive cloud
produced by these weapons would
cover about fifty
percent of the United States.
(13)
Approximately 25 million more people would die to cancer and
genetic defects
caused by the nuclear weapons.
Added to what is
the predicted deaths of other countries, the total deaths
would be from 120
to 260 million people.
(14)
This means that
from 4.3 to 9.5 percent of the Earth's population would
be
killed within a
couple of years after the war. (Remember, radiation
causes
sterilization. This was not placed into the above
calculations.)
In 1958 there was
a study on the possible fatalities in the United States during a hypothetical
nuclear war. The explosive power
totaled 2,500 megatons and the population 175 million
persons. They figured that on
the first day 42 million people would die.
By the seventh day
17 million more would die.
On the fourteenth
day there would be a total of 71 million people dead
and by the sixtieth,
83 million people would have died in the U.S.
(Remember: the strategy
of the time was military targets, now
we go after large
civilian populations, large industrial areas, etc.)
There would be 25
million injured and 67 million left uninjured.
(15)
It is predicted that up to 2/3 of the injured would eventually die
from their
injuries. Almost half of the
population of the United States
would
die.
A so-called limited
attack by the Soviet Union on ten U.S. refineries
using about two
percent of the nation's nuclear arsenal would kill more
than 5 million U.S.
citizens.
(16)
The following is a summary of a fictional account of what may
happen
after a nuclear
attack:
Almost right after the attack, people from all over crowded into
the
rural
towns. They were escaping from
the destroyed cities, looking for
food, shelter, clothing,
and medical attention.
They had nothing
except the clothes on their back.
They had no where to go.
After the first few days the hospitals closed their doors to new
patients. Not only because of
the high radioactivity outside, but they just did not have any room. The
very sick were left to die. The others were left to fend for
themselves.
Radio communications
were nearly wiped out. The President
came on the air once in a while.(Chances are no one would hear him:
EMP) he would usually talk about
the "cease-fire". He kept telling
them about how the Soviets were hurt just as much as the
U.S. He told them 100 million
people were killed. He said the
government was doing all they could.
(Let's remember,
the Pres. has a rather nice distance underground and
most likely not
seeing true reports on what is going on.)
Food became scarce. People
raided the grocery stores and the houses of
the people living
in shelters. Some were stealing
the farmers' cattle.
A
few went out into
the woods to try to find the few remaining wild animals.
About two weeks
after the explosions, the food did all but run out.
People looked to
the government, or what was left of it.
The president
said they were doing
all they could.
In the spring, people changed their
attitude. Crops were
planted.
Some even tried
to rebuild the cities and factories.
The government tried
to stop the barter
system and reinstate currency.
People found the money
worthless and kept
trading. Some thought things
were going to get better.
When winter came around, the food ran
out. People started eating
dogs,
cats, and rats;
animals by their habitat were protected from the
fallout.(also
cockroaches) The weak, the old,
and young started to die.
The first winter
took its toll on the living. People
were rebelling.
The government came together to figure out what to
do. They could
not
come up with a decision
that would agree with everyone. By
then, no one
knew what to
do. The life they were used to:
cars, computers, the office,
golf, schools, the
Superbowl, parties, all disappeared.
What was left? Chaos.
(17)
It is interesting how after our civilization becomes so
technologically
advanced and complex,
we could destroy it all in a matter of
moments.
Our
lifestyles would
go back to the horse and buggy era.
Most of our
complexities, i.e.
computers, would be forgotten. We
would learn how to
farm and care for
animals. We probably would not
be able to rebuild our
previous civilization
until after a few generations.
The survivors would
concentrate on survival, not worrying about selling
stock for IBM or
even going to school. There would
be no use for them.
Our country would
be set back a couple of hundred years.
People might even
deny our previous
civilization, and turn back to a more simple life:
one in which there
would be no offices, no taxation, no
hostility.
We might even become
friends with the Soviets.
Hopefully, we, the people of this planet, will one day realize
the
dangers of nuclear
war, and will stop it. Hopefully
everyone on this
planet will become
on family, working for the betterment of
all. Maybe
we will one day
become the perfect civilization that only Karl Marx,
Plato,
and other philosophers
have dreamed of.
**********************************************************************
UPLOADERS
NOTE START;
The last paragraph
scares me because our society is going down the tubes
fast as
the other ancient societies did.
The Persian, Syrian,
Babylon, Greek or Roman empires are not ruling today
are they?
The Book of Revelation
says many things, all of which will eventualy come true.
My own personal
feeling is that Revelation 18 is about the good 'ol USA
and when this New
World Order junk comes to pass it will be because the
Russians or the
UN is running it.
Not the United States
and it's double crossing socialist party A and socialist party B (ie democrats
and republicans) I believe the
Russians will probably nuke us and try to take over, try to
destroy Israel and rule the world
as hitler tried,
but this one has a
happy
ending.
Jesus Christ will return and defeat the armies of the
world.
The only "perfect
society" will be in the hereafter with Jesus Christ!
JOHN3:16
ROMANS3:23-26 ROMANS10:9-11
JOHN8:24
JOHN14:6
"Here is a trustworthy
saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus
came into the world
to save sinners-- of whom I am the worst. But for that
reason I was shown
mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus
might display his
unlimited patience as an example for those who would
believe on him and
receive eternal life. Now to the King Eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only
true God be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen
1TIMOTHY1:15-17
********
Notes
1
Congress of the U.S., Office of Technology Assessment, THE EFFECTS
OF
NUCLEAR WAR, 1980,
pp. 27-33
2
ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA, 1985 ed., s.v. "Nuclear
Weapons."
3
Neville Brown, NUCLEAR WAR: THE IMPENDING STRATEGIC DEADLOCK,
(New
York: Frederick
A. Praeger, Inc., Publishers, 1964), p. 14
4
Ibid.
5
Congress of the U.S., pp. 27-33
6
Ibid.
7
Jack Dennis, ed., THE NUCLEAR ALMANAC (Reading, Mas.: Addison -
Wesley
Publishing Company,
Inc., 1984), p. 101
8
Congress of the U.S., p. 31
9
Ibid.
10 Dennis, p.
102
11 Ibid., p.
101
12 Congress of the
U.S., p. 27-33
13 Dennis, p.
154
14
Ibid.
15 Linus Pauling,
NO MORE WAR! (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1983),
p.
154
16 Dennis, p.
153
17 Congress of the
U.S., pp. 124-138
Works Cited
Brown, Neville.
NUCLEAR WAR: THE IMPENDING STRATEGIC DEADLOCK. New
York:
Frederick A. Praeger, Inc., Publishers, 1964
Congress of the
United States, Office of Technology Assessment. THE
EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR WAR. Washington: GPO, 1980
Dennis, Jack, ed.
THE NUCLEAR ALMANAC. Reading, Mas.: Addison - Wesley
Publishing Company, Inc., 1984
Foster, Jr., John
S. "Nuclear Weapons". ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA. 1985 ed.
Pauling, Linus.
NO MORE WAR!. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1983
What you have just read was written by yours truly in December of
1986
for people who have
limited knowledge pertaining to nuclear weapons, etc.
To keep the feeling
of the original script, I only made changes in
punctuation and
added words in (). I apologize
for some of them, it's
late and I am
tired. I am sooner or later going
to write another
"article" with newer
data and maybe more info pertaining to blast effects,
radiation levels,
current armament and strategies. I
hope this will be
helpful.
I will gladly accept any pros, cons or general howdies,
etc.
from anyone who
has read it. I'm Fred Witsl.
Give a holler.
This file was Gathered
by the Cybermonk for more info call Fred!
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