Preparation for nuclear attack or large-scale disaster: good luck with that

[MillCreek]

http://time.com/3641767/us-fema-nuclear-attack-catastrophe/?xid=gonewsedit&google_editors_picks=true

So if you see mushroom clouds on the horizon, you are pretty much on your own, at least for a while.  If you are at Ground Zero, wave at the airburst.

[SADShooter]

Anyone surprised by this...shouldn't be.

[KD5NRH]

Anyone surprised by this...shouldn't be.

Yup.  After all, how many people are authorized, much less willing, to act in any effective manner without orders that can only come via communication systems that won't be working after an EMP?  Even if there was a complete plan, it would almost certainly be crippled in actual implementation by that problem alone.  For these problems, we really need to look to our past, when hundreds of frontier forts were still effective in spite of multi-day communication delays.  Unfortunately, that requires a lot of people willing and able to make the right command decisions regardless of any potential consequences when the politicians need a scapegoat later.

[TommyGunn]

http://time.com/3641767/us-fema-nuclear-attack-catastrophe/?xid=gonewsedit&google_editors_picks=true

So if you see mushroom clouds on the horizon, you are pretty much on your own, at least for a while.  If you are at Ground Zero, wave at the airburst.

Is it possible to do that and get blown away by the shock wave at the same time? 

Actually, if you were at GZ, you'd be reduced to sub-atamic particles. 


It ain't like in the movies, where being exposed to a nuclear bomb going off causes you to grow into a sixty foot giant so you have to live in a circus tent until you go whacko and start destroying Las Vegas until you are shot off Boulder Dam .......

[charby]

[TommyGunn]

B-b-b-but the nuclear blast can still get at them from the side!!!!!   

[Monkeyleg]

We had to do that in drills at school. There is some sense to it, in that the desk can protect you from plaster, pieces of wood and such falling from the ceiling. If the building is suffering any more damage than that, forget about it.

It's strange to think back about all that and realize that we really were close at times to nuclear war.

[wmenorr67]

Just trying to kiss their asses good bye.

[tokugawa]

It's strange to think back about all that and realize that we really were close at times to nuclear war.

 IMO, closer now than then. We are weaker-much much weaker in arms and especially will, and our enemies are far more numerous and hell bent on getting nukes. China is nuking up like crazy, the crazy's are looking for nukes, the whole would is sitting on a roulette wheel balanced on a roller coaster.

 

[Scout26]

If you notice, it ain't about keeping you and yours alive.  It's about keeping bureaucracies functioning and bureaucrats alive....

[TommyGunn]

If you notice, it ain't about keeping you and yours alive.  It's about keeping bureaucracies functioning and bureaucrats alive....

Yea ... there's a hollowed out mountain somewhere on the east coast which is a testament to government's intent to keep itself going irregardless of what it does to the peons  -- er uh, what happens to the civilians its supposed to protect ..... 

[230RN]

We had to do that in drills at school. There is some sense to it, in that the desk can protect you from plaster, pieces of wood and such falling from the ceiling. If the building is suffering any more damage than that, forget about it.

It's strange to think back about all that and realize that we really were close at times to nuclear war.

We were also taught to turn away from the windows if there was a flash.

[MechAg94]

How exactly does a govt prepare for a large scale nuclear attack beyond trying to stop it before it happens?

[vaskidmark]

How exactly does a govt prepare for a large scale nuclear attack beyond trying to stop it before it happens?

One of the very most important ways is to have seven (7) different full sets of currency stashed away in a bunker outside Culpeper, Va.  Color coded.  Enough paper to pretty much pick up where we left off the day before.

Part of me believes that the remaining six colors will be used to restrict black marketering - much like how they periodically changed color/design of script issued to the military in Vietnam.

stay safe.

[Viking]

If you notice, it ain't about keeping you and yours alive.  It's about keeping bureaucracies functioning and bureaucrats alive....

Joke's on them then - they'll have nothing but cockroaches to bureaucratize over. I'm not sure if they'd prefer it this way.

[230RN]

How exactly does a govt prepare for a large scale nuclear attack beyond trying to stop it before it happens?

And as Monkeyleg said,

It's strange to think back about all that and realize that we really were close at times to nuclear war.

The concept of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) was prevalent at the time.

I worked in Manhattan during the Cuban Missile Crisis. At the high (or low) point I went back home from work (as well as many others), figuring I'd rather die with my new bride at home in Flushing than in the City.

Only time I ever saw the subways crowded with homebound passengers in the middle of the day.  For myself, I was estimating the diameter of the fireball versus the distance to my house all the way home.  Then I realized that the estimates of destruction in radii around the Empire State building (the usual assumed ground zero point) depended on (A) a perfect aim; and (B) only one device would be launched at NYC, and just hoped I could get back to my wife in time.

Those weren't the only thoughts running through my mind, I tell you true.

Those days are engraved in my memory.

Terry

[Balog]

How exactly does a govt prepare for a large scale nuclear attack beyond trying to stop it before it happens?

Assure the continuation of government. Safe refuge for high level bureaucrats in other words.

The .mil of course has their own plans, but they're not really what I think you're referring to in this post.

Joke's on them then - they'll have nothing but cockroaches to bureaucratize over. I'm not sure if they'd prefer it this way.

Even at the height of the Cold War arms race, worst case scenario full on nuclear exchange between the three global powers wouldn't be a Cormac McCarthy style apocalypse. A lot of people would die certainly, and the economic hit would be massive, but life would go on just fine.

[RevDisk]

One of the very most important ways is to have seven (7) different full sets of currency stashed away in a bunker outside Culpeper, Va.  Color coded.  Enough paper to pretty much pick up where we left off the day before.

Part of me believes that the remaining six colors will be used to restrict black marketering - much like how they periodically changed color/design of script issued to the military in Vietnam.

stay safe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Audio-Visual_Conservation_Center

[Balog]

Do we have a national seed bank like some of the Scandinavian countries do?