Save Your Loved Ones from a Nuclear Attack By Preparing for the Worst Before it Happens
If we’re ready, a nuclear bomb may be survived with relative ease.
Without preparation, the death of our loved ones in the minutes, hours, and weeks following the attack may be unavoidable.
Who wants to go through that heartbreak? So, don’t get caught with your pants down when the big one lands.
North Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Ri Yong Ho said that his country may consider a test of a hydrogen bomb in the Pacific Ocean, according to a report from South Korea’s official news agency Yonhap.
Our lives cut short by a madman from halfway around the world?
Nope. Not gonna happen.
Rocket Man is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.
–The President of the United States
With North Korea threatening to fire a nuclear warhead toward the United States, the most important thing we can do for those we love, right now, is to gather the knowledge and essentials to be prepared in the minutes following the news of a nuclear attack on the United States.
As I mentioned above, if we’re ready, a nuclear bomb may be survived with relative ease.
So, don’t get caught with your pants down with the big one lands.
By the end of this article, you’ll gain a basic understanding of what’s required, and–perhaps more important–put to rest any unwarranted fears.
There’s no reason to be afraid when you know what to do.
And what better way to tell Kim jong-Un to shove it?
If you feel the need for more clarity in any section, leave a comment.
I’ll follow up to with an easy to use checklist of items you’ll want on hand to throw into the car when and if the sh#! hits the fan.
Below are the five greatest dangers.
1. Shelter
In North Korea, grass is a vegetable eaten by the people, and they’ve got nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles. So, something more stringent than what’s been done to North Korea is going to have to work; otherwise, a military strike is the only option.
–Oliver North
I’m writing this article because most of the literature published on how to prepare for a nuclear attack is based on the idea that Russia would be the aggressor. They’re out of date (and painful to read).
Given everything we think we know about the North Korean arsenal (it’s small but deadly), Rocket Man is not capable of the same kind of massive multi-missile attack as Russia.
That’s the good news, but any nuclear attack will require anyone in the line of fire to “move our little tushies,” as my second grade teacher liked to say.
The first order of business will be to get away from the blast zone.
We don’t know where that will be. Here’s the most specific threat:
The Hwasong-12 rockets to be launched by the KPA (Korean People’s Army) will cross the sky above Shimane, Hiroshima and Koichi Prefectures of Japan, (and explode over Guam)”
–Gen. Kim Rak-gyom, commander of the Strategic Force of the Korean People’s Army
According to recent weather simulations, a radioactive cloud could carry toward the U.S. and cover much of the country.
In the U.S., east is further away from North Korea and therefore safer.
Second thing one needs to know: radioactive fallout comes from the sky.
More precisely, fallout is made up of particles (they can can be as large as rocks or invisible to the human eye) that fall to the earth after being exposed to radioactivity.
If the nuclear bomb blasts a crater in the earth (not likely unless you’re located on Japan, Guam or potential targets close to North Korea), very large radioactive rocks will hit the ground first.
We don’t want to be anywhere near the blast when that happens.
The bomb can also be exploded in the sky–a scenario which may be better for everyone because the radiation would be attached to smaller particles and fall to the ground in a way that is less dense and therefore less dangerous.
As the wind carries the fallout (probably in a west to east direction given common weather patterns) the fallout particles get smaller and smaller (due to gravity pulling the larger particulate matter to the ground first).
After the rocks, pebbles would fall. After the pebbles, sand. After the sand, we might not see or hear the fallout at all.
Radiation is sneaky like that.
The greatest protection between fallout and the human body?
Earth.
Let’s get our hands dirty, shall we? Before we do, here’s a little comic relief for your efforts.
The priority, once we know the bomb has ignited, is to take cover in an underground shelter (a hole dug into and covered with earth) and stay there until radiation readings indicate it’s safe to emerge.
The electro-magnetic pulse from a nuclear blast may knock out anything electrical, so it’s best to plan around the need for electricity.
The basement will not work because the building above is flammable.
If the house catches fire, anyone caught in the basement would either be overcome with smoke inhalation or need to leave the shelter and become exposed to fallout.
A normal house does not have the substance necessary to filter fallout from the sky, which could make its way into the basement and onto food, water, and skin.
So, no hiding in the basement.
As soon as you feel an attack is imminent, get in the car with your loved ones and drive as far east as possible. If there is not much time, you can try to build something like this diagram, but the weight of the car could collapse the shelter.
Getting far away from the blast zone is priority number one, but once the bomb explodes, getting underground becomes even more important.
The earth will protect our bodies, drinking water, and food from exposure to fallout.
The best bet is to dig a shelter ahead of time, but not everyone has that luxury.
Building an underground shelter takes time, probably at least thirty-six hours.
What you decide to do in advance should be directly correlated to how crazy you think Kim jong-Un is.
He’s threatening a country with the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world.
(President Trump) committed an irreversible mistake of making our rockets’ visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more.
–North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho
Let’s dig in.
Creating an expedient trench shelter is probably the best way to go.
Once the trench has been dug to fit the number of people comfortably, a roof piled three feet high with earth must be created.
Pipes or thick trees are generally recommended as the base of the roof with a layer of plastic in between to prevent rainwater from seeping into the shelter.
For more specifics, buy this book as a spot reference. The paperback format is best in an emergency.
2. Ventilation
Now, let’s get cozy inside the shelter. Shall we?
Many human bodies close together underground results in a couple of ventilation related risks: too much carbon dioxide and moisture (from exhaling) and too much heat emanating from human bodies.
Creating the right kind of ventilation can be as easy as building an assortment of handheld fans or creating a more complex system that doesn’t rely as much on physical labor.
The construction of the vents in the shelter is the first matter of business.
The air needs to drop the particulates before it gets to our lungs.
Capturing the air as it rises is the best way to get fallout-free air into the shelter:
Given the complexity of the topic, ventilation may warrant printing this PDF and keeping it handy to apply to the task when you need the information.
Good job.
You’ve made it halfway through your nuclear survival training.
You should be proud of the accomplishment.
Just a few more short topics to cover, then you’ll have a basic blueprint of what you need when the Rocket Man goes ballistic.
3. Water
The good news: packaged water is safe to drink as long as it’s sealed.
Plan for two to six quarts per day per person depending on: external temperatures, the number of bodies in close proximity, and the effectiveness of the ventilation system (heat causes us to lose water through sweat).
The human body cannot survive much longer than three days without water.
We need water for digestion.
If you have packaged water that is sealed tight, there’s no need to filter or disinfect it, but if packaged water isn’t available, you’ll need to disinfect it if exposed to the air (airborne bacteria).
Disinfection is easy. Just pour in 5 drops of Chlorox bleach for each quart or liter of water (.25 teaspoon per gallon) and let it sit for an half an hour. You can also use iodine as directed in the product instructions.
Water from a pond or lake, exposed to fallout, can be filtered.
That looks something like this:
It takes time for the water to filter through the earth, but it is the best bet when and if an emergency need for water arises.
4. Food
Don’t eat anything exposed to fallout. You’re better off going hungry until the risk from fallout is over.
Store enough packaged food to last at least two weeks.
Humans can live without food for much longer than without water.
Make water the priority, but bring food too or you may feel like you’re going insane with hunger.
If staying in the shelter beyond the two week mark is necessary, it would be a good idea to have whole grains, dried beans, and the like.
They’re lightweight, and provide everything needed.
They will need to be cooked, so you might try experimenting in your kitchen with some new recipes while you have access to electricity and gas.
5. Fallout Radiation
I realize that the pursuit of peace is not as dramatic as the pursuit of war — and frequently the words of the pursuer fall on deaf ears. But we have no more urgent task.
–John F. Kennedy
Urban legend has it that FEMA has millions of radiation meters in storage, just in case, but how will they know where you are?
You might also have a radio on hand, and the station may broadcast instructions on when it’s safe to come out, but mistakes can be made, and the radio station could be hundreds of miles away, where the fallout readings may be lower.
The best thing would be to have your own fallout radiation meter.
There few options available on the market in the range of $500+, but there’s no way to know if the electronics are broken until you have some radiation to measure, and radiation is hard to come by (thankfully).
The best option (IMHO), is to create your own.
It will be handy to have a paper copy of this book on hand. It includes more specific information, which can be a useful reference for specific problems needing to be addressed inside the shelter.
That’s it! You did it. Congratulations.
Now you know how to survive (broadly), and can dive down into more specifics.
Call to Action
Make love, not war
–Unknown
Let’s show Rocket Man where he can stick his missiles by being prepared.
He’s got something up his sleeve, but if we know what to do, North Korea will probably be long gone by the time we emerge from our shelters.
Shelters we built ourselves.
Seriously, how cool is it that we can take matters into our own hands?
Pretty damn cool.
I’ll be publishing a follow up to this article with a checklist of inexpensive, but essential items you’ll want to buy in advance (including sanitary items you’ll want on hand).
Be sure to click on follow to receive a notification when the checklist is available.
Finally, if you liked the article, please clap for it so Medium can get it in front of more people.
Thanks for reading!
