13 ms·

Not to sound crude but if a nuclear bomb what can people on an island really do?

anigbrowl 9y ago
Yes, Tulsi Gabbard's comment is ridiculous scaremongering.
Retric 9y ago
Hawaii is huge and has a large mountain. You could get far enough away from a atomic bomb fairy easily. H-Bombs are a different story, but even then you would expect some survivors.
BjoernKW 9y ago
It doesn't matter if you're on an island or not. An ICBM (which is what you're usually talking about with nuclear bombs) takes about 30 minutes to reach its destination, which will be a large population centre. So, you have less than 30 minutes to get out of a large city. Because you won't be the only one to try this there will be major congestion on top of the usual city traffic. Public transport could be an option but I wouldn't be so sure that trains keep running either once such an alert has been issued.
- PeterisP 9y ago
  The total destruction radius of current ICBM warheads is much smaller than large population centres - if you live in one, and a single 2-5 megaton nuke would hit it, you likely won't die even if you stayed where you are (but duck&cover'ed, preferably in a basement, to avoid the secondary effects) because that nuke would hit some other district of your city; for any major population center the expected casualties from a single hit are just a small portion of the total population.
topspin 9y ago
A great deal. Nuclear weapons are not infinitely large or powerful. Here[1] is an account by Akiko Takakura. She was less than 300 meters from the hypocenter (the point on the ground directly below the nuclear blast) of the Hiroshima attack. She and others survived because they were inside a well built bank. She was 20 at the time and lived another 40 years. There are a number of things you can do to contribute to your survival and minimize long term consequences. First is distance; the further you are from a target the better. Assuming you have sufficient distance then you need shelter, anything you can put between you and the blast will help mitigate or entirely eliminate the impact; a hill can make an enormous difference. Should you have the good fortune to survive the blast then you need to deal with fire (nuclear blasts ignite many things simultaneously) and avoiding the bulk of the fallout until you're clear of the damage. If you manage all that you can indeed survive and live a long life. Much contempt is shown toward the old cold war era videos one can find of school children practicing nuclear attack drills by diving under desks and covering their heads. The fact is that these are entirely legitimate tactics that will mitigate the effect of the light flash, thermal pulse, flying glass and other debris. [1] https://www.inicom.com/hibakusha/akiko.html https://www.inicom.com/hibakusha/akiko.html

Yes, Tulsi Gabbard's comment is ridiculous scaremongering.

Hawaii is huge and has a large mountain. You could get far enough away from a atomic bomb fairy easily. H-Bombs are a different story, but even then you would expect some survivors.

BjoernKW 9y ago

It doesn't matter if you're on an island or not. An ICBM (which is what you're usually talking about with nuclear bombs) takes about 30 minutes to reach its destination, which will be a large population centre. So, you have less than 30 minutes to get out of a large city. Because you won't be the only one to try this there will be major congestion on top of the usual city traffic. Public transport could be an option but I wouldn't be so sure that trains keep running either once such an alert has been issued.

PeterisP 9y ago
The total destruction radius of current ICBM warheads is much smaller than large population centres - if you live in one, and a single 2-5 megaton nuke would hit it, you likely won't die even if you stayed where you are (but duck&cover'ed, preferably in a basement, to avoid the secondary effects) because that nuke would hit some other district of your city; for any major population center the expected casualties from a single hit are just a small portion of the total population.

topspin 9y ago

A great deal. Nuclear weapons are not infinitely large or powerful. Here[1] is an account by Akiko Takakura. She was less than 300 meters from the hypocenter (the point on the ground directly below the nuclear blast) of the Hiroshima attack. She and others survived because they were inside a well built bank. She was 20 at the time and lived another 40 years. There are a number of things you can do to contribute to your survival and minimize long term consequences. First is distance; the further you are from a target the better. Assuming you have sufficient distance then you need shelter, anything you can put between you and the blast will help mitigate or entirely eliminate the impact; a hill can make an enormous difference. Should you have the good fortune to survive the blast then you need to deal with fire (nuclear blasts ignite many things simultaneously) and avoiding the bulk of the fallout until you're clear of the damage. If you manage all that you can indeed survive and live a long life. Much contempt is shown toward the old cold war era videos one can find of school children practicing nuclear attack drills by diving under desks and covering their heads. The fact is that these are entirely legitimate tactics that will mitigate the effect of the light flash, thermal pulse, flying glass and other debris. [1] https://www.inicom.com/hibakusha/akiko.html https://www.inicom.com/hibakusha/akiko.html