I do consider myself quite a beginner prepper with a bit of food and water stockpiled, as well as an emergency kit, but I have been seeing more and more people preparing for a nuclear attack. Obviously, the best way to prepare for this is to look at a bunker in-home or a basement but for us peasants (most of us I assume) it becomes a really interesting game of survival. I did come across this nuclear survival piece from The Prepping Guide which I must tip my hat to, as it was as informative as it was entertaining. After reading it, I feel like I at least have a clearer idea of what I would do if I got a phone alert of an incoming missile and what type of shelter to look for. But I thought I might also bring this up in here, how many of you are seriously prepared to survive a nuclear attack?
Given it some thought...it's one of those "low probability, high impact" type events. I did get a refurbished civil defense radiation meter, some individual dosimeters, and some potassium iodide pills (though at my age, thyroid cancer is one of my lesser worries). We have a basement that can be converted fairly easy, and I have a good supply of sandbags and a sand pile (keep for laying block/brick projects around the place) to beef up the outer two walls with mass (other two are 100% under ground). We keep a lot of food stock, and so on, so no need to run out for that. But as far as a formal shelter, no, don't have it....yet. Plans in the works for one.
The standard methods of minimizing the effects of nuclear attack are time, distance, and shielding. Time to get away, distance to be away from the blast, and shielding from the blast and its effects. I have distance already and won't live long enough for the "low probability, high impact" event to gain a higher probability, so no, I've no bomb shelter and don't have plans for one. Frankly, there are many higher probability events to prepare for. For example, if you are in tornado alley, you need a shelter. And so on ---
If you're in the 100% kill radius of a likely target from a smallish strategic thermo nuclear weapon there isn't really any point in doing anything else until you get out of that area.
I have a school desk I was told to hide under it, maybe it's all the gum stuck under the lid that saves you
All you can really do is be somewhere else. But: assuming you're not in the actual blast zone, distance, shielding, and time. Where time is how long you're prepared to hole up for.The distance can be modified by taking care of where you live. EG: don't live near Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base for example, and make sure you're upwind of any likely targets. Buy or build an earth shelter home. And keep food and water stocks for a month or so. Most importantly though: keep substantial insurance on yourself, payable to your loved ones so they'll be taken care of after you're killed on your commute to work. As others have noted - probabilities matter. Personally I have location and supplies taken care of, along with a couple of logging Geiger counters, enough personal dosimeters to go around. Also a decent stock of full coverage tyvec suits, and a huge pile of n100 masks. The later two items are useful for other needs, so a win-win.
We have no nuclear shelter and to be honest we have not prepared for a nuclear event. I think the odds are so slim that I'm not too concern. I do think some of the other possible scenarios, like economic collapse are more likely and we have done our best to prepare for those. We have Fairchild AFB about 70 miles away so we'd probably get some fallout if we were unlucky but other than that there is no reason we would get hit, nothing around here to concern anyone (Northern Idaho).
We live at Sea Level, in a Fjord that is 998 Yds wide, with 2000’ Mountains of three side...(West, North, East) At About 58 Degrees North, and 135 Degrees West... The nearest Significant .Mil Base is over 600 Miles North, and 1000 miles Southeast... There is NOTHING worth wasting a Nuke on, within 500 miles in any Direction... We generate ALL our own Power, and the rest of our Preps have been ready for DECADES..
Check you tube out "Twilight Zone" for the survival shelter or bunker . It is a story worth committing to memory. Check out "The Shelter" season 3 of twilight zone. a good lesson to keep in mind.
Is that stop drop and roll or knees to the breeze..... I always get confused. I am in the 50 mile zone of Armageddon (many targets in my AO of note). I have prep's, but if I am not home... I could be screwed if caught out on the road somewhere. Shit happens........
Last year I read a book titled, last train from Hiroshima. At least I think it was called that. It went into detail on both of the A bombs dropped on Japan. Very good read. Unbelievable how people survived it. Some who survived were directly under the blast. I always thought the saying duck and cover was a joke. It's not.
I will survive it, because I live in a country no one cares to bomb. However, I can't say what the prevailing winds will do to me, after the fact. I may wish afterward, that I had been directly under the detonation of one of the bombs that were dropped.
there are whoe threads on here for this search function nuclear site:www.survivalmonkey.com change 'nuclear' for whatever topic you want and get results
I live mostly up-wind of the nearest target, but unfortunately The Rock Island arsenal is only eight miles away. A weapon only slightly off target in my direction and I'm, uh, toast(?). I used to worry a lot about nuclear war, but now I think the more likely scenario is some fanatic with a death wish and a dirty bomb or a biological weapon. And, yeah, I live in tornado alley, but I've got several mobile home parks up wind of me to attract any tornados that might come my way. Just happy I don't live in a tectonically active area. New Madrid probably won't shake us up too much here.
fortunately we won't get shook tooo badly north of Central IL - few old crap building might go but no major infrastructure ... unfortunately millions will most likely die however from exposure if the quake occurs in the wintertime - the natural gas pipelines all traverse thru that area and would be majorly destroyed - no way to substitute for the city millions - the resulting LP shortage would reek havoc across the country ....
Living in southern California ,the possibility of being hit is greater than much of the rest of the country . On the other hand if Caldera in Yellowstone pops, we may suffer the least compared to the rest of the country . I hope neither occur. In the event of an attack an under ground shelter is the best defense , not a basement .unless the floor of the house above is concrete . As if the house did not exist. I have plans for an under ground shelter, but there are a great many other issues I must deal with first.