I recently saw a comment chain about nuclear bombs, and that led me to thinking about this. Say there is a nuclear explosion in the downtown of my US city. I survive relatively fine, but obviously the main part of the city has been destroyed, while major zones extending from the center were also badly damaged. What would be a good response to (a) survive and (b) help out the recovery effort?

  • Otherbarry@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    5 months ago

    Say there is a nuclear explosion in the downtown of my US city.

    If it’s that close you then essentially you’ll need to decide whether to die quick or slow :/

    If you’re actually planning on surviving you’d need to stay in an underground bunker or something similar for at least 3-5 weeks to be safe enough to travel outside (and we’re assuming you have clean sources of food/water, bathroom, etc, during that time). If you make it that far then afterwards you’d likely want to go outside & get as far away from the radiation zone as possible.

    Coincidentally the basement of my work building actually has a fallout shelter sign from back in the day so the basement might survive a blast but I don’t see how I’d make it 3-5 weeks without being extra prepared for that beforehand.

    • Beacon@fedia.io
      0·
      5 months ago

      I’m far from an expert on this, but I would guess the safety of being outdoors heavily depends on additional factors, like for example wind direction and speed.

    • BearOfaTime@lemm.ee
      0·
      5 months ago

      It really depends.

      Scale of bomb

      Design of bomb.

      Distance from epicenter

      Ground explosion or atmospheric

      Prevailing winds

      City construction

      Etc, etc.

      It’s nowhere near as simple as we’ve been taught.

      I’ve looked at the bomb simulator linked above, and for me and my city, and where I live, prevailing winds, etc, only the two largest warheads would have direct effect on me, and fallout isn’t a concern for the rest (distance and prevailing winds).

      Now after that, it would surely be a complete shit show. I’d likely have no water (or maybe I would, this suburb isnt tied to the city). Power would certainly be an issue, as would telephone/cell, radio would be problematic for a short while. Food would be a problem, of course.