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what to do in nuclear situation?


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Honestly, there are SO many variables, it’s incredibly difficult to plan for. The situation changes based on size of weapon, height of detonation, location and prevailing winds, whatever weather might be involved…. It’s a lot.

Generally speaking, and making multiple assumptions, basements are your friend. Tarps sealing any openings are a second-best. Simply being indoors is a layer of protection, again, depending on circumstances.

I can’t quote specifics because I haven’t really tried to retain them, given all the variables. But the half-life is pretty short and a few days is said to be enough for the fallout to be considered not so dangerous beyond the immediate area.

Again, I claim 0 expertise because there are just so many factors. But I’m comfortable recommending two YouTubers if you want to learn more, and ONLY those two YouTubers because most others are nuts. They’re City Prepping and Beau of the Fifth Column. Some can argue that they’re nuts, too, and I won’t argue against that. But, in the sea of nuts, I see them as the most grounded. There may be others that are fine, but I don’t know of them.

Another disclaimer after pulling up YouTube - I haven’t watched the most recent City Prepping video, so I don’t know its contents. I did watch one a few back specifically titled How To Survive Nuclear Fallout.

MY basement is not yet finished and 3 miles away. And I will never own enough tarps to cover my current house’s many windows and plenty of cracks. So… 🤷‍♀️

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Buy a big desk and hide under it because as a kid we hid under our school desks. Hey kids nuclear war - hide under your desks the blast and radiation can't get you there. Sorry, I have no real clue what to do. I live  near a big city so we would be a target if WW3 would start. 

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When I lived in Austria people were told to keep some kind of iodine tablets on hand; some of the cancers resulting from nuclear incidents are caused by radioactive iodine uptake in the body, so I think the idea was to take the non-radioactive iodine pills so the body (thyroid especially) would not absorb as much radioactive iodine.

I have no idea whether that is actually solid advice or not.

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1 hour ago, lmrich said:

Buy a big desk and hide under it because as a kid we hid under our school desks. Hey kids nuclear war - hide under your desks the blast and radiation can't get you there. Sorry, I have no real clue what to do. I live  near a big city so we would be a target if WW3 would start. 

I want to use the laughing emoji, but…

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Ok thanks.
No basements on any Australian houses, our house is raised on stumps, not even at ground level.  I can do under a desk.  Also half our walls are  floor to ceiling windows? The  closest target I guess would be Canberra, just over 350 km away.  But Melbourne, though further is the direction that half our wind comes from. I know if there are big fires near Melbourne the ash falls from the sky right here.
 

I have the feeling we are going to be like that movie where everyone in the northern hemisphere is gone and people in Australia slowly die over the next week as the radiation spreads.

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3 hours ago, Melissa in Australia said:

 From all the YouTubing I did and the modelling, Seems like in my location we would survive the actual nuclear part but die in the expected 4 year winter. Though there is conflicting information if it would be a 1 year winter or 4 year winter.

What scenario is that based on? Like a single strategic nuclear explosion in Ukraine, or something else? I don't think I want to go delving into the details myself, because it's all too depressing, but I'm curious your scenario you modeled. I figure if that's your result for something that happens in the Northern Hemisphere, that's enough for me to know that it would be even worse here.

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On 3/8/2022 at 8:33 AM, lmrich said:

Buy a big desk and hide under it because as a kid we hid under our school desks. Hey kids nuclear war - hide under your desks the blast and radiation can't get you there. Sorry, I have no real clue what to do. I live  near a big city so we would be a target if WW3 would start. 

I was SO GOOD at these drills when we were kids! 

10 minutes ago, maize said:

So, I think it is potassium iodide pills that are recommended. They are commonly recommended in some European countries.

When I taught school near a nuclear power plant, this is what we handed out to our students in evacuation drills. (We used Smarties candies during the drills.) We would triple-load the buses and drive to a state park far in the opposite direction. 

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2 hours ago, KSera said:

What scenario is that based on? Like a single strategic nuclear explosion in Ukraine, or something else? I don't think I want to go delving into the details myself, because it's all too depressing, but I'm curious your scenario you modeled. I figure if that's your result for something that happens in the Northern Hemisphere, that's enough for me to know that it would be even worse here.

All out war between all  NATO   Countries and Russia.   No nuclear bomb in Southern Hemisphere.

It was pretty bad for the northern hemisphere 😢

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9 hours ago, Lucy the Valiant said:

I was SO GOOD at these drills when we were kids!

I see other people my age talking about desk drills, but I have absolutely no recollection of them. I swear my school didn’t have them! Or my brain is super good at locking things away.

That said, II *believe they were meant for protecting against the damages of a sonic boom, even though we all talk about radiation.  I could be wrong about that, though.

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1 hour ago, Carrie12345 said:

I see other people my age talking about desk drills, but I have absolutely no recollection of them. I swear my school didn’t have them! Or my brain is super good at locking things away.

That said, II *believe they were meant for protecting against the damages of a sonic boom, even though we all talk about radiation.  I could be wrong about that, though.

My DH and I are the exact same age, and he never had them either. (We grew up in different places.)

I distinctly remember our teacher telling us about the "red button," and we had 3 different types of drills that we regularly practiced - tornado drills, fire drills, and red button drills. Our elementary school class watched the Challenger launch on TV, and I remember being confused when it happened because we children (who did not understand what had just happened but DID respond to our teachers' consternation and grief) thought the space shuttle had something to do with the red button. 😞

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

We didn't do the desk drills but I did grow up when that was a real worry.   The thought was that we were third on the desirable targets in the US, not because we were so special, but because a circle centered on us got lots of good stuff.  So the idea was, "Well, we'll be dead before we know what has happened.  So we won't worry."    

I did genuinely think it had happened once.    They were doing a test on the alarm and I was sleeping in on a weekend.   It was after we thought we were past that, but not so far past it that I was shocked.    I remember waking up and thinking, "I thought we were past that?    I guess I was wrong."   I thought what should I do?   Could think of nothing, so I went back to sleep.   Even before that, a central tenet of my life is not leave the important stuff undone.   I was genuinely shocked (pleasantly) to wake up to a peaceful world.   

The thing that wasn't thought of back then was the EMP effect.   Don't know what to do about that.    We are fortunate that none of us are on essential drugs like insulin.  

 

 

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  • 3 months later...

The media here is reporting this https://www.9news.com.au/world/what-to-do-in-a-nuclear-attack-new-york-emergency-management-video-explainer/a2d47928-840f-41fa-ae4a-56f69db0438d

apparently advice put out by New York City's department of emergency management 

 

does anyone know if there is a reason like a feeling of impending threat.

 really not helping with jitters 

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Even though I do agree that the timing FEELS weird, EMAs are always creating new content/materials for the public.  NYC’s Emergency Management has lots of YouTube videos posted about disasters and planning.
Usually,they go ignored. At least, it sure seems like it when MY local EMA posts new stuff!

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