9 ms·

Updated rules on preparedness for nuclear explosion

127 points by ta988 5y ago

smitty1e 5y ago
May Fortune restrain madness.
eggsmediumrare 5y ago
Seems weird to be concerned about social distancing in the event of a nuclear explosion.
- pbourke 5y ago
  An N95 mask might help with inhaling irradiated dust. But yeah, COVID would be rather low on the list of concerns.
  - micromacrofoot 5y ago
    imagine the bad luck if that’s when you contracted it?
    - kmonsen 5y ago
      Seriously, Covid is extremely low on my list of worries if I am close to a nuclear explosion. Like so far down that I can't see why it should be mentioned at all. Radiation, access to food/water and breakdown of society are the only realistic concerns I can think of right away. And I am not really sure if preparing is all that helpful, at least not the kind of preparation that is mentioned here. What I need is a way of providing food long term (years), and be able to defend it. In a place without radiation.
- mc32 5y ago
  Especially considering most mask mandates are being rescinded. But you’re right. The first concern should be protection from the most immediate threat —which in this scenario would not be Covid-19. That’s bureaucracy for us…
- willismichael 5y ago
  If I were sheltering from a nuclear strike with a bunch of strangers, I think I would do the opposite - encourage everybody to come in close and share lots of hugs. Human beings need contact, especially while experiencing trauma.
  - soared 5y ago
    Just be sure everyone in the hug was in shelter before being exposed to fallout, otherwise those hugs might be radioactive!
    - willismichael 5y ago
      Yes, that's a good point. The document does specifically talk about avoiding contact with fallout, or removing it if necessary. Hopefully everybody gets inside before it drops.
- tshaddox 5y ago
  Why? In relative terms, yeah, obviously, but a respiratory virus breakout in a fallout shelter certainly isn’t any less troubling than a respiratory virus breakout at a workplace or music festival.
  - kragen 5y ago
    A covid outbreak in March 02022, when everyone is already vaccinated and the dominant strain of covid is the omicron strain (which, even without vaccination, is only as fatal as the regular flu instead of an order of magnitude worse), is dramatically less troubling than a covid outbreak six months ago, and it isn't worth mentioning in the context of fallout safety rules, except to say not to worry about covid.
    - mattl 5y ago
    - tshaddox 5y ago
      I strongly suspect they don’t update these documents every month to keep up to date with different waves. That wouldn’t even make sense for a nation-wide document like this. Most likely these docs just got updated once when COVID first became a big deal, and will be updated again whenever someone decides the pandemic has subsided enough that it doesn’t need to be in these docs.
      - kragen 5y ago
        It says they updated it four days ago
    - dev_tty01 5y ago
      Average flu deaths in the U.S. for the last decade are about 35,000 per year. In the U.S., even with vaccines and Omicron, we still had over 70,000 covid deaths in the last 30 days. Given that a typical flu season is 4 to 6 months long, I would say even the last month Covid has been much worse than a typical flu season. So, a covid outbreak in a fallout shelter would still be very difficult in that environment. There will be many older and otherwise immune-compromised people in a crowded shelter who are susceptible to a still highly contagious virus. It is completely reasonable to at least attempt to be cautious in the short term. By the way, "everyone" is not vaccinated. Only 65% of Americans are fully immunized at this point. I'm not saying Covid is the threat it was a year ago, but some prudence is still reasonable.
- ozten 5y ago
  +1 Also, this isn't a new threat vector. It's not like someone who hasn't heard of COVID-19 is going to discover this amazing survival tip here for the first time. Probably the doc change was proposed 2 years ago and finally shipped.
pbourke 5y ago
“Last Updated: 02/25/2022”
bombcar 5y ago
In case of nuclear hellfire, remember to continue to be scared of Covid.
- plazmatic 5y ago
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- gumby 5y ago
  These are hard trade offs to make. Covid is increasing in Ukraine as people make this trade off. I read that they have run out of oxygen tanks.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- weatherlight 5y ago
  One horseman at a time please.
throwawaylinux 5y ago
If you have just survived a nuclear explosion and find yourself in need of assistance, call 911 and be sure to let the operator know if you have or believe you may have COVID-19. Absolute insanity.
- cpncrunch 5y ago
  "Many people may already feel fear and anxiety about the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). The threat of a nuclear explosion can add additional stress" Ah, yes, a little additional stress from the nuclear explosion over and above covid. It's hard to know if this was written with a straight face or not.
  - mbg721 5y ago
    "If possible, please position the nuclear blast between yourself and COVID-19 in order to minimize proximity to COVID."
    - throwawaylinux 5y ago
      "In the post-apocalyptic wasteland, breaking in to warehouses to steal and hoard COVID-19 vaccines should be your first priority. Your mind will be at ease knowing these can be stored or long periods by burying them in the glaciers that will rapidly form as the atmosphere will be black with radioactive dust for many years. Social distancing and mask wearing should be your next priority. The global failure of agriculture and radioactive contamination of surface water are the next concerns."
      - mbg721 5y ago
        Geez, I shouldn't have clicked on "Threads".
      - iab 5y ago
        So we are getting the glaciers back?? What a win
- 5y ago
moron123 5y ago
I thought this was satire, but then I saw the .gov We are living in a satire universe folks.
- fastball 5y ago
  The US govt is literally adopting the dumbest takes on Twitter[1] as official policy. [1] https://twitter.com/DanaHoule/status/1496723469890949127 https://twitter.com/DanaHoule/status/1496723469890949127
  - whatshisface 5y ago
    That's not such a dumb take, diseases and wartime conditions go hand in hand.
    - fastball 5y ago
      Forest for the trees.
  - Heyokamerican 5y ago
    As far as I can tell, this person is not in government [1] and is not claiming to represent anyone but themselves. I don't understand how you conclude that their comment is US govt policy. [1] https://newrepublic.com/authors/dana-houle https://newrepublic.com/authors/dana-houle
    - fastball 5y ago
      The OP is the government policy... the tweet is a dumb take. Do you not see any overlap between the dumb take and the government policy?
      - Heyokamerican 5y ago
        Sorry -- I misread your comment. Thought you were saying the tweet represented US policy.
soared 5y ago
“Space Weather” preparedness is an interesting read too https://www.ready.gov/space-weather https://www.ready.gov/space-weather
TeeMassive 5y ago
> Try to maintain a distance of at least six feet between yourself and people who are not part of your household. If possible, wear a mask if you’re sheltering with people who are not a part of your household. Children under two years old, people who have trouble breathing, and those who are unable to remove masks on their own should not wear them. Is there a reason other than Covid-19? I know that when they give Iodine 131 pills to to fight thyroidal gland cancer the patient must be isolated from everyone else because he is radio active. But other than that this doesn't make any sense.
- cma 5y ago
  It seems they mis-copy-pasted from a page on pandemics: > For those who can afford it, making essential purchases and slowly building up supplies in advance will allow for longer time periods between shopping trips. This helps to protect those who are unable to procure essentials in advance of the pandemic and must shop more frequently
- hedora 5y ago
  Watch the "fallout" video I pasted elsewhere. It covers dealing with contamination.
alexb_ 5y ago
These are the type of things that had to be a result of government bureaucracy and unnecessary rules. Probably something like "All guidance must mention xyz about COVID".
coenhyde 5y ago
tbh I am more worried of an EMP nuke detonated high in the atmosphere than localized nuclear explosions. An EMP would lead to famines and total chaos.
- wanderer_ 5y ago
  To be honest, nuclear threats can pretty much be waved away with mutually assured destruction. I think we're all just saying, "Surely they won't do it..." because we know that if they do, there will be nothing left to worry about / plan for.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- JKCalhoun 5y ago
  Do we know that to be a fact?
  - coenhyde 5y ago
    It has never happened, so the best we can do is speculate with what we know. The US and Russia did conduct some atmospheric nuclear detonations that unintentionally created EMP's. And determined yes it would be a bad day. From https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0307_CISA_EMP-Protection-Resilience-Guidelines.pdf https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_030... "The critical national infrastructure in the United States faces a present and continuing existential threat from combined-arms warfare, including cyber and manmade electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, as well as from natural EMP from a solar superstorm. During the Cold War, the U.S. was primarily concerned about an EMP attack generated by a high-altitude nuclear weapon as a tactic by which the Soviet Union could suppress the U.S. national command authority and the ability to respond to a nuclear attack—and thus negate the deterrence value of assured nuclear retaliation. Within the last decade, newly armed adversaries, including North Korea, have been developing the ability and threatening to carry out an EMP attack against the United States. Such an attack would give countries that have only a small number of nuclear weapons the ability to cause widespread, long-lasting damage to critical national infrastructures, to the United States itself as a viable country, and to the survival of a majority of its population." [Assessing the Threat from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), Executive Report, July 2017]
wanderer_ 5y ago
Nothing about avoiding population centers? My reaction to nuclear attack would be to hightail it into the woods. Take some supplies, wait it out, and try not to be a burden to emergency services. As for fallout and the like, I would just have to hope. Being far from potential targets and away from major jet streams (or whatever I'm not a meteorologist) would be my way to go.
- tshaddox 5y ago
  How are you going to survive in the woods? In many places and times of year this would be very difficult for all but the most intensely prepared or experienced people. And is it even good advice?
  - lazide 5y ago
    Also, fallout generally goes from what was bombed (cities) to what was nearby (forests and not cities).
    - wanderer_ 5y ago
      I see. Well, it looks like I would probably just end up dead then :)
  - wanderer_ 5y ago
    I am rather experienced. Eagle scout, that sort of thing. Maybe I should have been more clear: That wasn't advice, just what I think I would do.
    - kmonsen 5y ago
      I was a ranger in the army, during survival exercise they said the techniques we learned would only apply to surviving during a war. For all other purposes seek civilization as humans are almost unable to survive in the wild anymore. It is very hard to spend less calories trying to get food than what the food you find contains. I think you are wildly overthinking your ability to survive in the wild. Of course I know nothing about you, so you might be the one in a million that can do it.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
creativeCak3 5y ago
I am genuinely asking; how worried should we be? I'm really freaking out about this...
- stevemk14ebr 5y ago
  either way nothing you can do. So don't worry until there's something you can control
- wanderer_ 5y ago
  Not extremely. Helpful stuff to know, but there is, right now, no real reason for anyone to launch an attack of this scale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction
- Clubber 5y ago
  Having been one who grew up during through the cold war in the 80s, it's just something you have to accept. I remember in 4th grade on the playground, the kids (me) were debating with the teacher whether it was better to stand outside and get nuked or go inside and live through the aftermath. Having said that and having lived through all this before and nothing happened, I wouldn't worry too much. Also read Alas Babylon, it's pretty good and related. On a side note, we could also get hit by an asteroid at any time with no notice, so there's always something to make you unease if you dwell on it.
- hunterb123 5y ago
  Depends who you ask. I'm not worried at all as it doesn't benefit either side. We were much closer in the 80's, nuclear warfare won't break out over this. MAD should actually help you sleep at night.
- willismichael 5y ago
  My dad spent his career processing nuclear waste as chemical engineer. I called him over the weekend to ask about the prospects of surviving a nuclear strike. We had a good long chat about it, but the summary is that if you can avoid direct exposure to the initial gamma ray burst, and then avoid the fallout for at least a few hours (ideally longer if you can), you actually have a sizable chance of survival. After that it's a matter of cooperating with the people around you for the basic needs. It would be pretty grim, but people could still rebuild civilization.
whiddershins 5y ago
I saw these guidelines 6 months ago. Was living in an area that was at legit risk of a nuclear incident. Saw all the Covid stuff and just started laughing. No sense of scale or proportion here.
daenz 5y ago
1952 - "Duck and cover" 2022 - "Mask and distance"
- hedora 5y ago
  Duck and cover; still laughable after all these years: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60 "Fallout" is far more useful than current covid information sites. It's sad how far the US gov't has fallen in 70 years: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GFmy55rPrT0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GFmy55rPrT0 Remember: In case of nuclear blast, stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye!
kragen 5y ago
What the fuck, this has to be a parody: Be Safe AFTER Immediately after you are inside shelter, if you may have been outside after the fallout arrived. ... Engage virtually with your community through video and phone calls. Know that it’s normal to feel anxious or stressed. Take care of your body and talk to someone if you are feeling upset. Many people may already feel fear and anxiety about the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). The threat of a nuclear explosion can add additional stress. Follow CDC guidance for managing stress during a traumatic event and managing stress during COVID-19. Last Updated: 02/25/2022
- mattl 5y ago
  - kragen 5y ago
    mm/dd/yyyy is not a "readable date format that people understand", because for 39% of dates it's hopelessly ambiguous with dd/mm/yyyy, though this particular case is unambiguous. I never use it myself, but I was quoting the document we're commenting on. Your comment seems irrelevant to the subject at hand, and your addendum that it "isn’t promoted by wankers" has a bizarrely aggressive tone, and I would like to encourage you to delete your comment and not make any further comments in this vein, whether replying to me or to anyone else.
    - mattl 5y ago
- cbfrench 5y ago
  I’m glad I can expect Zoom calls to remain a feature of the post-apocalypse landscape.
  - pbourke 5y ago
    Apparently we will have all of the downsides of Armageddon without the bliss of its few upsides. I’ll make sure to update JIRA ahead of standup the afternoon of the apocalypse.
geraldalewis 5y ago
The comments here are silly. You can absolutely prioritize your risks, which means you’re not precluded from taking sensible precautions if you’re able to. This isn’t rock/paper/scissors. If you’re far enough away from the point of impact and the winds are right, Covid might be more of a threat than a nuclear bomb. If you’re two states away from where a bomb goes off, and insist on open-mouth kissing strangers as they cough on you, that’s up to you. But also you can just throw on a mask and step a few feet back from folks and be a little safer. Also, really bad scenarios can often stem from a couple of things going wrong all at once. So just be safe and use as much good judgment as the situation allows. And lean on easy, automatic, strategies to help you not compound issues.
- throwawaylinux 5y ago
  No, what's silly is filling people's heads with rubbish about COVID in case of a nuclear disaster or other acute emergency. Hand sanitizer is absolutely not the right thing to be concerned with. Masks perhaps, but not for COVID. Storing clean water, minimizing your perishable food waste, securing your house/shelter and making makeshift repairs to damage, using a radio (e.g., from your car) to listen for information, etc., keeping a basic first aid kit around and understand basic wound management, are all far more important. Social distancing because of covid comes in at around number 32,238 of things to worry about.
  - ihumanable 5y ago
    Remember kids, the best time to needlessly contract a disease is right after a nuclear blast has rendered any aid completely inaccessible. Also considering that one of the parts that suggests hand sanitizer says the following If you are able to, set aside items like soap, hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol, disinfecting wipes, and general household cleaning supplies that you can use to disinfect surfaces you touch regularly. *After a flood*, you may not have access to these supplies for days or even weeks. Keep in mind each person’s specific needs, including medication. Don’t forget the needs of pets. Obtain extra batteries and charging devices for phones and other critical equipment. The "After a flood" part makes me think this is just general disaster preparedness and has nothing at all to do with COVID. Edit: There was another part about hand sanitizer that was much more COVID-19 related that I missed the first time, my mistake. But the entire page looks like a copy-pasted frankenstein.
colanderman 5y ago
The sections mentioning COVID have been in place for over a year: http://web.archive.org/web/20210326031042/https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion http://web.archive.org/web/20210326031042/https://www.ready.... i.e., from a time when almost no-one was vaccinated, and the strains of COVID going around were much deadlier. It's absolutely reasonable for the guidelines of that time to try to prevent fallout shelters crammed with thousands of people from all coming down with COVID simultaneously -- and particularly trying to protect aid workers.
georgecmu 5y ago
Last Updated: 02/25/2022 Absolutely insane. And at the same time: President Biden on Monday rejected concerns about the potential for nuclear war amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Asked if Americans should be worried about a nuclear war, Mr. Biden said: "No." https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-02-28/card/biden-says-americans-shouldn-t-worry-about-possibility-of-nuclear-war-YX1L9tPy4lbCkUG6DXwq https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-...
- Trasmatta 5y ago
  > Last Updated: 02/25/2022 I looked up the previous snapshot on Internet Archive, and I see no differences, except maybe some tiny formatting changes (which could also just be a result of how the Internet Archive is rendering it): https://web.archive.org/web/20220206045759/https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion https://web.archive.org/web/20220206045759/https://www.ready...
nytesky 5y ago
Has this site been hacked as a psyops attack?? Usually ready.gov has cute infographics not photos
titzer 5y ago
If you're warned of an imminent nuclear attack, be sure to move towards the expected epicenter of the blast. You'll want to be vaporized rather than cooked alive or suffer fatal radiation sickness (over the period of days or weeks). You'll want to be spared the horror of watching others die and society quickly unravel. You'll want to avoid being a burden on the non-existent safety net that won't survive. Watch "The Day After". It's probably the most realistic depiction of a post-apocalyptic situation to date. (It's not dramatic and cool, or cinematic--long, boring, and flat out horrifying.)
- znkynz 5y ago
  It it is absolutely not- sugar coated bullshit. You need to watch "Threads" - a British production from the 80s. Terrifying: https://archive.org/details/threads_201712 https://archive.org/details/threads_201712
  - pbourke 5y ago
    Because I am apparently a masochist, I watched Threads for the first time in the week leading up the the war. It lives up to its billing.
- Sosh101 5y ago
  I'm not sure advocating suicide is the best advice.
  - ihumanable 5y ago
    For a large area around a nuclear blast you'll be dead anyways. It's just choosing to minimize suffering on the way out.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
phendrenad2 5y ago
The "Soviet surprise attack" model was always a joke. I can't believe people don't see that. If nukes are used in this war, almost certainly the first ones dropped will be warning shots, detonated underwater or in an uninhabited desert. Just to let the world know that you're serious. There would be plenty of time to try to get away from the major cities and military bases. Of course, those of us who aren't millionaires won't be able to get a plane ticket. But hey, that's capitalism.
- jillesvangurp 5y ago
  I live about 1300km away from Kiev in Berlin. Any fallout cloud might head my way if the winds are from that direction. Putin is right now leveling cities with heavy artillery and massacring civilians at a scale not seen since WW II in Europe. So, the chances are he'd actually use a small nuclear weapon to make the point that the Americans are not the only ones who get to level cities with nukes (Nagasaki, Hiroshima). The main point of those attacks was to bomb the Japanese into submission. It worked. All of the obvious targets for a Russian nuclear attack are cities in the Ukraine. It doesn't have any deserts. It's not a NATO member and his issues are with the Ukrainians and getting the rest of the of the world off his back. Such an attack wouldn't trigger any immediate retaliation from any NATO country. A first strike on the US or NATO member on the other hand would be suicidal as it pretty much would guarantee at least a response in kind and probably more. However, taking out Kiev or a smaller city elsewhere in the Ukraine, would be a desperate move of course but he might get away with it and it would probably lead to capitulation by the Ukrainians. If he goes there, most of Europe is going to be worrying about fallout. Chernobyl fallout is still a thing in some places. A full nuclear blast, even a small one, might produce a lot more of it. Scary thing that such a thing is even conceivable right now.
- allturtles 5y ago
  Where are you imagining that all the people in the cities would go, and how would they get there? You should look at what the partial evacuation of Houston from Hurricane Rita was like [0]. It took people over a day to get to Dallas. And that was just one city partially emptying, mostly going to other cities. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita#Mass_evacuation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita#Mass_evacuation
jdlyga 5y ago
No shelters within 200 miles of me. I live next to New York City. Are we screwed?
- Johnny555 5y ago
  I live next to New York City. Are we screwed You're probably screwed unless you have an extensive shelter that you can stay in for days or weeks. I'd expect NYC to be high on the list of targets with multiple warheads. Based on a simulator [1], An single 8 megaton airburst has a 28 mile radius of "extensive injuries/fatalities. With a dangerous fallout cloud hundreds of miles long (winds may blow it toward or away from you) https://www.nuclearwarmap.com/ https://www.nuclearwarmap.com/ (their 1000 warhead large attack scenario predicts almost 200 million deaths across the USA)
javajosh 5y ago
Serious question: should we all get tarps to cover up the ground around us before fallout comes? We could save significant topsoil this way.
- jillesvangurp 5y ago
  If that makes you feel better; go for it.
iends 5y ago
I'm about 45 miles from a large US military base, is there a point in doing anything?
- bombcar 5y ago
  Given that tweets move faster than earthquakes you should have adequate time to get a good viewpoint for the blast.
- hedora 5y ago
  Probably. Unless they're missile silos that are housing nuclear weapons meant to be used as part of an automated nuclear response, US military bases are surprisingly low on the nuke priority list. The eastern seaboard, communications hubs and centers of industry will go first. It's easy to mop up the military bases once the command structure and supply lines have been annihilated (and defectors/equipment may come in handy post-war). If the aggressor survives the initial strike, they basically just needs to wait. (That'd only happen if the mutually assured destruction mechanisms failed. They're set up to glassify the surface of the earth once the government collapses. Most military bases get melted during that wave, but then so does everything else.) The craziest part is that the Russians actually built the doomsday machine from Dr Strangelove, and then kept its existence secret. Game theoretically, that somehow made it a better deterrent, as sarcastically posited in the film. At least they didn't do something really dumb, like set the launch codes to all zeros() () yes, that was the actual launch code. They probably didn't sticky note it to the monitor though, at least at first.
colanderman 5y ago
[2021], except for: $ diff -u 1.txt 2.txt --- 1.txt 2022-02-28 23:02:05.000000000 -0500 +++ 2.txt 2022-02-28 23:02:41.000000000 -0500 @@ -98,11 +98,10 @@ Nuclear Explosion Information Sheet (PDF) Download the FEMA app Centers for Disease Control - Health and Human Service Get inside, Stay inside, Stay Tuned Video (English) Get inside, Stay inside, Stay Tuned Video (Spanish) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Coronavirus (Federal Government Response) Keeping Children Healthy During the COVID-19 Outbreak -Last Updated: 02/19/2021 +Last Updated: 02/25/2022 1.txt: http://web.archive.org/web/20220206045759/https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion http://web.archive.org/web/20220206045759/https://www.ready.... 2.txt: http://web.archive.org/web/20220226211632/https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion http://web.archive.org/web/20220226211632/https://www.ready....
- Trasmatta 5y ago
  Yes, seems like just a related page was removed, and any page that referenced it was automatically updated. I think the "Updated rules" in the title of this post is unnecessary and probably causing needless concern for people. None of the content in the page seems to have changed in at least the past year. Given that nothing has actually been updated in the rules, maybe a mod should update the title of this post?
jker 5y ago
“After a flood, you may not have access to these supplies for days or even weeks.” Looks like part of this was copypasted, and no one bothered to proofread it.
mherdeg 5y ago
For the past few years I've held the view that choosing to live in a large metropolitan area (NYC, DC, SF, Boston) is basically choosing a fast, fairly low-pain death in the event of full-out nuclear war. Did I get that wrong? Is a barrage of modern weapons actually survivable within city limits?!
phdelightful 5y ago
If we are envisioning a single “nuclear explosion” (not a large nuclear attack), then this advice is not as crazy as it might seem. Think terrorism, or accident. If you survive the initial event, and the rest of the country is immediately in a position to render aid, then your objective is just to stay healthy and safe for the 1-4 days it would take to start getting things sorted out. In that scenario, access to clean water, first aid, and not getting covid actually seem like reasonable things to worry about. There’s not really any good advice in a MAD scenario. Only a tiny faction of people would be able to set out for the wilderness and survive. The vast majority will die of exposure of one kind or another regardless of how much prepping they do.
- XorNot 5y ago
  Well, also the wilderness can't support a large foraging population for more then a couple weeks at most. Like, there are straight up too many people for wilderness survival to work at scale - North Korea is in widespread ecological collapse because its population has essentially stripped the wilderness bare trying to survive.
Sosh101 5y ago
I notice that iodine tablets are not mentioned. I realise that iodine isotopes or iodine-like element isotopes are not the main concern after a nuclear weapon hit. But still, do they have no value?
samus 5y ago
> After a flood, you may not have access to these supplies for days or even weeks. It's a copypasta from similar guidelines for flooding events
throwawaygh 5y ago
These are guidelines for preparing for a nuclear explosion, which can happen in contexts other than all-out nuclear war. Probably not helpful in WW3. Possibly helpful in a "Goldsboro, North Carolina, January 1961 but not lucky" type of situation.
TrispusAttucks 5y ago
Remember kids: In case of global thermonuclear war be sure to wash your hands, cover your face, and keep 6 feet of distance between you and the other survivors who just received lethal doses of radiation. -- “A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it's a joke.” - Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, Part I (1843)
fr33d0m_ 5y ago
Curious as to why there is no mention of having and taking Potassium Iodide? "The FDA has approved two different forms of KI (potassium iodide), tablets and liquid, that people can take by mouth after a radiation emergency involving radioactive iodine." If there was a radiation emergency, people should take a drug that would help protect them from thyroid cancer.
beefman 5y ago
If it seems ridiculous to add COVID stuff here, consider that the nuclear stuff is equally ridiculous. No one wants to use nuclear weapons, and if they did it would be against military targets (mostly other nukes). If one did hit a populated area, the region between instantly dead and totally fine is narrow. Yet this page implies all readers are in that region, and the danger of fallout is highly exagerrated. Get to a shelter? What fration of a percent of the population can they accomodate? I just texted 43362 with my zip code (San Jose, CA) and got this reply: "We could not locate a SHELTER within 200 miles of [zip]." Even during the cold war hysteria of the early '80s, my town of 30,000 people had only one shelter: the bank. The COVID-19 stuff is perfectly at home here.
professoretc 5y ago
I picked the worst time to build a deck over the fallout shelter in my backyard.

127 points by ta988 5y ago

smitty1e 5y ago

May Fortune restrain madness.

eggsmediumrare 5y ago

Seems weird to be concerned about social distancing in the event of a nuclear explosion.

pbourke 5y ago
An N95 mask might help with inhaling irradiated dust. But yeah, COVID would be rather low on the list of concerns.
- micromacrofoot 5y ago
  imagine the bad luck if that’s when you contracted it?
  - kmonsen 5y ago
    Seriously, Covid is extremely low on my list of worries if I am close to a nuclear explosion. Like so far down that I can't see why it should be mentioned at all. Radiation, access to food/water and breakdown of society are the only realistic concerns I can think of right away. And I am not really sure if preparing is all that helpful, at least not the kind of preparation that is mentioned here. What I need is a way of providing food long term (years), and be able to defend it. In a place without radiation.
mc32 5y ago
Especially considering most mask mandates are being rescinded. But you’re right. The first concern should be protection from the most immediate threat —which in this scenario would not be Covid-19. That’s bureaucracy for us…
willismichael 5y ago
If I were sheltering from a nuclear strike with a bunch of strangers, I think I would do the opposite - encourage everybody to come in close and share lots of hugs. Human beings need contact, especially while experiencing trauma.
- soared 5y ago
  Just be sure everyone in the hug was in shelter before being exposed to fallout, otherwise those hugs might be radioactive!
  - willismichael 5y ago
    Yes, that's a good point. The document does specifically talk about avoiding contact with fallout, or removing it if necessary. Hopefully everybody gets inside before it drops.
tshaddox 5y ago
Why? In relative terms, yeah, obviously, but a respiratory virus breakout in a fallout shelter certainly isn’t any less troubling than a respiratory virus breakout at a workplace or music festival.
- kragen 5y ago
  A covid outbreak in March 02022, when everyone is already vaccinated and the dominant strain of covid is the omicron strain (which, even without vaccination, is only as fatal as the regular flu instead of an order of magnitude worse), is dramatically less troubling than a covid outbreak six months ago, and it isn't worth mentioning in the context of fallout safety rules, except to say not to worry about covid.
  - mattl 5y ago
  - tshaddox 5y ago
    I strongly suspect they don’t update these documents every month to keep up to date with different waves. That wouldn’t even make sense for a nation-wide document like this. Most likely these docs just got updated once when COVID first became a big deal, and will be updated again whenever someone decides the pandemic has subsided enough that it doesn’t need to be in these docs.
    - kragen 5y ago
      It says they updated it four days ago
  - dev_tty01 5y ago
    Average flu deaths in the U.S. for the last decade are about 35,000 per year. In the U.S., even with vaccines and Omicron, we still had over 70,000 covid deaths in the last 30 days. Given that a typical flu season is 4 to 6 months long, I would say even the last month Covid has been much worse than a typical flu season. So, a covid outbreak in a fallout shelter would still be very difficult in that environment. There will be many older and otherwise immune-compromised people in a crowded shelter who are susceptible to a still highly contagious virus. It is completely reasonable to at least attempt to be cautious in the short term. By the way, "everyone" is not vaccinated. Only 65% of Americans are fully immunized at this point. I'm not saying Covid is the threat it was a year ago, but some prudence is still reasonable.
ozten 5y ago
+1 Also, this isn't a new threat vector. It's not like someone who hasn't heard of COVID-19 is going to discover this amazing survival tip here for the first time. Probably the doc change was proposed 2 years ago and finally shipped.

pbourke 5y ago

“Last Updated: 02/25/2022”

bombcar 5y ago

In case of nuclear hellfire, remember to continue to be scared of Covid.

plazmatic 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
gumby 5y ago
These are hard trade offs to make. Covid is increasing in Ukraine as people make this trade off. I read that they have run out of oxygen tanks.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
weatherlight 5y ago
One horseman at a time please.

throwawaylinux 5y ago

If you have just survived a nuclear explosion and find yourself in need of assistance, call 911 and be sure to let the operator know if you have or believe you may have COVID-19. Absolute insanity.

cpncrunch 5y ago
"Many people may already feel fear and anxiety about the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). The threat of a nuclear explosion can add additional stress" Ah, yes, a little additional stress from the nuclear explosion over and above covid. It's hard to know if this was written with a straight face or not.
- mbg721 5y ago
  "If possible, please position the nuclear blast between yourself and COVID-19 in order to minimize proximity to COVID."
  - throwawaylinux 5y ago
    "In the post-apocalyptic wasteland, breaking in to warehouses to steal and hoard COVID-19 vaccines should be your first priority. Your mind will be at ease knowing these can be stored or long periods by burying them in the glaciers that will rapidly form as the atmosphere will be black with radioactive dust for many years. Social distancing and mask wearing should be your next priority. The global failure of agriculture and radioactive contamination of surface water are the next concerns."
    - mbg721 5y ago
      Geez, I shouldn't have clicked on "Threads".
    - iab 5y ago
      So we are getting the glaciers back?? What a win
5y ago

moron123 5y ago

I thought this was satire, but then I saw the .gov We are living in a satire universe folks.

fastball 5y ago
The US govt is literally adopting the dumbest takes on Twitter[1] as official policy. [1] https://twitter.com/DanaHoule/status/1496723469890949127 https://twitter.com/DanaHoule/status/1496723469890949127
- whatshisface 5y ago
  That's not such a dumb take, diseases and wartime conditions go hand in hand.
  - fastball 5y ago
    Forest for the trees.
- Heyokamerican 5y ago
  As far as I can tell, this person is not in government [1] and is not claiming to represent anyone but themselves. I don't understand how you conclude that their comment is US govt policy. [1] https://newrepublic.com/authors/dana-houle https://newrepublic.com/authors/dana-houle
  - fastball 5y ago
    The OP is the government policy... the tweet is a dumb take. Do you not see any overlap between the dumb take and the government policy?
    - Heyokamerican 5y ago
      Sorry -- I misread your comment. Thought you were saying the tweet represented US policy.

soared 5y ago

“Space Weather” preparedness is an interesting read too https://www.ready.gov/space-weather https://www.ready.gov/space-weather

TeeMassive 5y ago

> Try to maintain a distance of at least six feet between yourself and people who are not part of your household. If possible, wear a mask if you’re sheltering with people who are not a part of your household. Children under two years old, people who have trouble breathing, and those who are unable to remove masks on their own should not wear them. Is there a reason other than Covid-19? I know that when they give Iodine 131 pills to to fight thyroidal gland cancer the patient must be isolated from everyone else because he is radio active. But other than that this doesn't make any sense.

cma 5y ago
It seems they mis-copy-pasted from a page on pandemics: > For those who can afford it, making essential purchases and slowly building up supplies in advance will allow for longer time periods between shopping trips. This helps to protect those who are unable to procure essentials in advance of the pandemic and must shop more frequently
hedora 5y ago
Watch the "fallout" video I pasted elsewhere. It covers dealing with contamination.

alexb_ 5y ago

These are the type of things that had to be a result of government bureaucracy and unnecessary rules. Probably something like "All guidance must mention xyz about COVID".

coenhyde 5y ago

tbh I am more worried of an EMP nuke detonated high in the atmosphere than localized nuclear explosions. An EMP would lead to famines and total chaos.

wanderer_ 5y ago
To be honest, nuclear threats can pretty much be waved away with mutually assured destruction. I think we're all just saying, "Surely they won't do it..." because we know that if they do, there will be nothing left to worry about / plan for.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
JKCalhoun 5y ago
Do we know that to be a fact?
- coenhyde 5y ago
  It has never happened, so the best we can do is speculate with what we know. The US and Russia did conduct some atmospheric nuclear detonations that unintentionally created EMP's. And determined yes it would be a bad day. From https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_0307_CISA_EMP-Protection-Resilience-Guidelines.pdf https://www.cisa.gov/sites/default/files/publications/19_030... "The critical national infrastructure in the United States faces a present and continuing existential threat from combined-arms warfare, including cyber and manmade electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, as well as from natural EMP from a solar superstorm. During the Cold War, the U.S. was primarily concerned about an EMP attack generated by a high-altitude nuclear weapon as a tactic by which the Soviet Union could suppress the U.S. national command authority and the ability to respond to a nuclear attack—and thus negate the deterrence value of assured nuclear retaliation. Within the last decade, newly armed adversaries, including North Korea, have been developing the ability and threatening to carry out an EMP attack against the United States. Such an attack would give countries that have only a small number of nuclear weapons the ability to cause widespread, long-lasting damage to critical national infrastructures, to the United States itself as a viable country, and to the survival of a majority of its population." [Assessing the Threat from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP), Executive Report, July 2017]

wanderer_ 5y ago

Nothing about avoiding population centers? My reaction to nuclear attack would be to hightail it into the woods. Take some supplies, wait it out, and try not to be a burden to emergency services. As for fallout and the like, I would just have to hope. Being far from potential targets and away from major jet streams (or whatever I'm not a meteorologist) would be my way to go.

tshaddox 5y ago
How are you going to survive in the woods? In many places and times of year this would be very difficult for all but the most intensely prepared or experienced people. And is it even good advice?
- lazide 5y ago
  Also, fallout generally goes from what was bombed (cities) to what was nearby (forests and not cities).
  - wanderer_ 5y ago
    I see. Well, it looks like I would probably just end up dead then :)
- wanderer_ 5y ago
  I am rather experienced. Eagle scout, that sort of thing. Maybe I should have been more clear: That wasn't advice, just what I think I would do.
  - kmonsen 5y ago
    I was a ranger in the army, during survival exercise they said the techniques we learned would only apply to surviving during a war. For all other purposes seek civilization as humans are almost unable to survive in the wild anymore. It is very hard to spend less calories trying to get food than what the food you find contains. I think you are wildly overthinking your ability to survive in the wild. Of course I know nothing about you, so you might be the one in a million that can do it.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

creativeCak3 5y ago

I am genuinely asking; how worried should we be? I'm really freaking out about this...

stevemk14ebr 5y ago
either way nothing you can do. So don't worry until there's something you can control
wanderer_ 5y ago
Not extremely. Helpful stuff to know, but there is, right now, no real reason for anyone to launch an attack of this scale. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_assured_destruction
Clubber 5y ago
Having been one who grew up during through the cold war in the 80s, it's just something you have to accept. I remember in 4th grade on the playground, the kids (me) were debating with the teacher whether it was better to stand outside and get nuked or go inside and live through the aftermath. Having said that and having lived through all this before and nothing happened, I wouldn't worry too much. Also read Alas Babylon, it's pretty good and related. On a side note, we could also get hit by an asteroid at any time with no notice, so there's always something to make you unease if you dwell on it.
hunterb123 5y ago
Depends who you ask. I'm not worried at all as it doesn't benefit either side. We were much closer in the 80's, nuclear warfare won't break out over this. MAD should actually help you sleep at night.
willismichael 5y ago
My dad spent his career processing nuclear waste as chemical engineer. I called him over the weekend to ask about the prospects of surviving a nuclear strike. We had a good long chat about it, but the summary is that if you can avoid direct exposure to the initial gamma ray burst, and then avoid the fallout for at least a few hours (ideally longer if you can), you actually have a sizable chance of survival. After that it's a matter of cooperating with the people around you for the basic needs. It would be pretty grim, but people could still rebuild civilization.

whiddershins 5y ago

I saw these guidelines 6 months ago. Was living in an area that was at legit risk of a nuclear incident. Saw all the Covid stuff and just started laughing. No sense of scale or proportion here.

daenz 5y ago

1952 - "Duck and cover" 2022 - "Mask and distance"

hedora 5y ago
Duck and cover; still laughable after all these years: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60 "Fallout" is far more useful than current covid information sites. It's sad how far the US gov't has fallen in 70 years: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GFmy55rPrT0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GFmy55rPrT0 Remember: In case of nuclear blast, stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye!

kragen 5y ago

What the fuck, this has to be a parody: Be Safe AFTER Immediately after you are inside shelter, if you may have been outside after the fallout arrived. ... Engage virtually with your community through video and phone calls. Know that it’s normal to feel anxious or stressed. Take care of your body and talk to someone if you are feeling upset. Many people may already feel fear and anxiety about the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). The threat of a nuclear explosion can add additional stress. Follow CDC guidance for managing stress during a traumatic event and managing stress during COVID-19. Last Updated: 02/25/2022

mattl 5y ago
- kragen 5y ago
  mm/dd/yyyy is not a "readable date format that people understand", because for 39% of dates it's hopelessly ambiguous with dd/mm/yyyy, though this particular case is unambiguous. I never use it myself, but I was quoting the document we're commenting on. Your comment seems irrelevant to the subject at hand, and your addendum that it "isn’t promoted by wankers" has a bizarrely aggressive tone, and I would like to encourage you to delete your comment and not make any further comments in this vein, whether replying to me or to anyone else.
  - mattl 5y ago
cbfrench 5y ago
I’m glad I can expect Zoom calls to remain a feature of the post-apocalypse landscape.
- pbourke 5y ago
  Apparently we will have all of the downsides of Armageddon without the bliss of its few upsides. I’ll make sure to update JIRA ahead of standup the afternoon of the apocalypse.

geraldalewis 5y ago

The comments here are silly. You can absolutely prioritize your risks, which means you’re not precluded from taking sensible precautions if you’re able to. This isn’t rock/paper/scissors. If you’re far enough away from the point of impact and the winds are right, Covid might be more of a threat than a nuclear bomb. If you’re two states away from where a bomb goes off, and insist on open-mouth kissing strangers as they cough on you, that’s up to you. But also you can just throw on a mask and step a few feet back from folks and be a little safer. Also, really bad scenarios can often stem from a couple of things going wrong all at once. So just be safe and use as much good judgment as the situation allows. And lean on easy, automatic, strategies to help you not compound issues.

throwawaylinux 5y ago
No, what's silly is filling people's heads with rubbish about COVID in case of a nuclear disaster or other acute emergency. Hand sanitizer is absolutely not the right thing to be concerned with. Masks perhaps, but not for COVID. Storing clean water, minimizing your perishable food waste, securing your house/shelter and making makeshift repairs to damage, using a radio (e.g., from your car) to listen for information, etc., keeping a basic first aid kit around and understand basic wound management, are all far more important. Social distancing because of covid comes in at around number 32,238 of things to worry about.
- ihumanable 5y ago
  Remember kids, the best time to needlessly contract a disease is right after a nuclear blast has rendered any aid completely inaccessible. Also considering that one of the parts that suggests hand sanitizer says the following If you are able to, set aside items like soap, hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol, disinfecting wipes, and general household cleaning supplies that you can use to disinfect surfaces you touch regularly. *After a flood*, you may not have access to these supplies for days or even weeks. Keep in mind each person’s specific needs, including medication. Don’t forget the needs of pets. Obtain extra batteries and charging devices for phones and other critical equipment. The "After a flood" part makes me think this is just general disaster preparedness and has nothing at all to do with COVID. Edit: There was another part about hand sanitizer that was much more COVID-19 related that I missed the first time, my mistake. But the entire page looks like a copy-pasted frankenstein.

colanderman 5y ago

The sections mentioning COVID have been in place for over a year: http://web.archive.org/web/20210326031042/https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion http://web.archive.org/web/20210326031042/https://www.ready.... i.e., from a time when almost no-one was vaccinated, and the strains of COVID going around were much deadlier. It's absolutely reasonable for the guidelines of that time to try to prevent fallout shelters crammed with thousands of people from all coming down with COVID simultaneously -- and particularly trying to protect aid workers.

georgecmu 5y ago

Last Updated: 02/25/2022 Absolutely insane. And at the same time: President Biden on Monday rejected concerns about the potential for nuclear war amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Asked if Americans should be worried about a nuclear war, Mr. Biden said: "No." https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-2022-02-28/card/biden-says-americans-shouldn-t-worry-about-possibility-of-nuclear-war-YX1L9tPy4lbCkUG6DXwq https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/russia-ukraine-latest-news-...

Trasmatta 5y ago
> Last Updated: 02/25/2022 I looked up the previous snapshot on Internet Archive, and I see no differences, except maybe some tiny formatting changes (which could also just be a result of how the Internet Archive is rendering it): https://web.archive.org/web/20220206045759/https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion https://web.archive.org/web/20220206045759/https://www.ready...

nytesky 5y ago

Has this site been hacked as a psyops attack?? Usually ready.gov has cute infographics not photos

titzer 5y ago

If you're warned of an imminent nuclear attack, be sure to move towards the expected epicenter of the blast. You'll want to be vaporized rather than cooked alive or suffer fatal radiation sickness (over the period of days or weeks). You'll want to be spared the horror of watching others die and society quickly unravel. You'll want to avoid being a burden on the non-existent safety net that won't survive. Watch "The Day After". It's probably the most realistic depiction of a post-apocalyptic situation to date. (It's not dramatic and cool, or cinematic--long, boring, and flat out horrifying.)

znkynz 5y ago
It it is absolutely not- sugar coated bullshit. You need to watch "Threads" - a British production from the 80s. Terrifying: https://archive.org/details/threads_201712 https://archive.org/details/threads_201712
- pbourke 5y ago
  Because I am apparently a masochist, I watched Threads for the first time in the week leading up the the war. It lives up to its billing.
Sosh101 5y ago
I'm not sure advocating suicide is the best advice.
- ihumanable 5y ago
  For a large area around a nuclear blast you'll be dead anyways. It's just choosing to minimize suffering on the way out.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

phendrenad2 5y ago

The "Soviet surprise attack" model was always a joke. I can't believe people don't see that. If nukes are used in this war, almost certainly the first ones dropped will be warning shots, detonated underwater or in an uninhabited desert. Just to let the world know that you're serious. There would be plenty of time to try to get away from the major cities and military bases. Of course, those of us who aren't millionaires won't be able to get a plane ticket. But hey, that's capitalism.

jillesvangurp 5y ago
I live about 1300km away from Kiev in Berlin. Any fallout cloud might head my way if the winds are from that direction. Putin is right now leveling cities with heavy artillery and massacring civilians at a scale not seen since WW II in Europe. So, the chances are he'd actually use a small nuclear weapon to make the point that the Americans are not the only ones who get to level cities with nukes (Nagasaki, Hiroshima). The main point of those attacks was to bomb the Japanese into submission. It worked. All of the obvious targets for a Russian nuclear attack are cities in the Ukraine. It doesn't have any deserts. It's not a NATO member and his issues are with the Ukrainians and getting the rest of the of the world off his back. Such an attack wouldn't trigger any immediate retaliation from any NATO country. A first strike on the US or NATO member on the other hand would be suicidal as it pretty much would guarantee at least a response in kind and probably more. However, taking out Kiev or a smaller city elsewhere in the Ukraine, would be a desperate move of course but he might get away with it and it would probably lead to capitulation by the Ukrainians. If he goes there, most of Europe is going to be worrying about fallout. Chernobyl fallout is still a thing in some places. A full nuclear blast, even a small one, might produce a lot more of it. Scary thing that such a thing is even conceivable right now.
allturtles 5y ago
Where are you imagining that all the people in the cities would go, and how would they get there? You should look at what the partial evacuation of Houston from Hurricane Rita was like [0]. It took people over a day to get to Dallas. And that was just one city partially emptying, mostly going to other cities. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita#Mass_evacuation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita#Mass_evacuation

jdlyga 5y ago

No shelters within 200 miles of me. I live next to New York City. Are we screwed?

Johnny555 5y ago
I live next to New York City. Are we screwed You're probably screwed unless you have an extensive shelter that you can stay in for days or weeks. I'd expect NYC to be high on the list of targets with multiple warheads. Based on a simulator [1], An single 8 megaton airburst has a 28 mile radius of "extensive injuries/fatalities. With a dangerous fallout cloud hundreds of miles long (winds may blow it toward or away from you) https://www.nuclearwarmap.com/ https://www.nuclearwarmap.com/ (their 1000 warhead large attack scenario predicts almost 200 million deaths across the USA)

javajosh 5y ago

Serious question: should we all get tarps to cover up the ground around us before fallout comes? We could save significant topsoil this way.

jillesvangurp 5y ago
If that makes you feel better; go for it.

iends 5y ago

I'm about 45 miles from a large US military base, is there a point in doing anything?

bombcar 5y ago
Given that tweets move faster than earthquakes you should have adequate time to get a good viewpoint for the blast.
hedora 5y ago
Probably. Unless they're missile silos that are housing nuclear weapons meant to be used as part of an automated nuclear response, US military bases are surprisingly low on the nuke priority list. The eastern seaboard, communications hubs and centers of industry will go first. It's easy to mop up the military bases once the command structure and supply lines have been annihilated (and defectors/equipment may come in handy post-war). If the aggressor survives the initial strike, they basically just needs to wait. (That'd only happen if the mutually assured destruction mechanisms failed. They're set up to glassify the surface of the earth once the government collapses. Most military bases get melted during that wave, but then so does everything else.) The craziest part is that the Russians actually built the doomsday machine from Dr Strangelove, and then kept its existence secret. Game theoretically, that somehow made it a better deterrent, as sarcastically posited in the film. At least they didn't do something really dumb, like set the launch codes to all zeros() () yes, that was the actual launch code. They probably didn't sticky note it to the monitor though, at least at first.

colanderman 5y ago

[2021], except for: $ diff -u 1.txt 2.txt --- 1.txt 2022-02-28 23:02:05.000000000 -0500 +++ 2.txt 2022-02-28 23:02:41.000000000 -0500 @@ -98,11 +98,10 @@ Nuclear Explosion Information Sheet (PDF) Download the FEMA app Centers for Disease Control - Health and Human Service Get inside, Stay inside, Stay Tuned Video (English) Get inside, Stay inside, Stay Tuned Video (Spanish) U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Coronavirus (Federal Government Response) Keeping Children Healthy During the COVID-19 Outbreak -Last Updated: 02/19/2021 +Last Updated: 02/25/2022 1.txt: http://web.archive.org/web/20220206045759/https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion http://web.archive.org/web/20220206045759/https://www.ready.... 2.txt: http://web.archive.org/web/20220226211632/https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion http://web.archive.org/web/20220226211632/https://www.ready....

Trasmatta 5y ago
Yes, seems like just a related page was removed, and any page that referenced it was automatically updated. I think the "Updated rules" in the title of this post is unnecessary and probably causing needless concern for people. None of the content in the page seems to have changed in at least the past year. Given that nothing has actually been updated in the rules, maybe a mod should update the title of this post?

jker 5y ago

“After a flood, you may not have access to these supplies for days or even weeks.” Looks like part of this was copypasted, and no one bothered to proofread it.

mherdeg 5y ago

For the past few years I've held the view that choosing to live in a large metropolitan area (NYC, DC, SF, Boston) is basically choosing a fast, fairly low-pain death in the event of full-out nuclear war. Did I get that wrong? Is a barrage of modern weapons actually survivable within city limits?!

phdelightful 5y ago

If we are envisioning a single “nuclear explosion” (not a large nuclear attack), then this advice is not as crazy as it might seem. Think terrorism, or accident. If you survive the initial event, and the rest of the country is immediately in a position to render aid, then your objective is just to stay healthy and safe for the 1-4 days it would take to start getting things sorted out. In that scenario, access to clean water, first aid, and not getting covid actually seem like reasonable things to worry about. There’s not really any good advice in a MAD scenario. Only a tiny faction of people would be able to set out for the wilderness and survive. The vast majority will die of exposure of one kind or another regardless of how much prepping they do.

XorNot 5y ago
Well, also the wilderness can't support a large foraging population for more then a couple weeks at most. Like, there are straight up too many people for wilderness survival to work at scale - North Korea is in widespread ecological collapse because its population has essentially stripped the wilderness bare trying to survive.

Sosh101 5y ago

I notice that iodine tablets are not mentioned. I realise that iodine isotopes or iodine-like element isotopes are not the main concern after a nuclear weapon hit. But still, do they have no value?

samus 5y ago

> After a flood, you may not have access to these supplies for days or even weeks. It's a copypasta from similar guidelines for flooding events

throwawaygh 5y ago

These are guidelines for preparing for a nuclear explosion, which can happen in contexts other than all-out nuclear war. Probably not helpful in WW3. Possibly helpful in a "Goldsboro, North Carolina, January 1961 but not lucky" type of situation.

TrispusAttucks 5y ago

Remember kids: In case of global thermonuclear war be sure to wash your hands, cover your face, and keep 6 feet of distance between you and the other survivors who just received lethal doses of radiation. -- “A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded. He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater. I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it's a joke.” - Soren Kierkegaard, Either/Or, Part I (1843)

fr33d0m_ 5y ago

Curious as to why there is no mention of having and taking Potassium Iodide? "The FDA has approved two different forms of KI (potassium iodide), tablets and liquid, that people can take by mouth after a radiation emergency involving radioactive iodine." If there was a radiation emergency, people should take a drug that would help protect them from thyroid cancer.

beefman 5y ago

If it seems ridiculous to add COVID stuff here, consider that the nuclear stuff is equally ridiculous. No one wants to use nuclear weapons, and if they did it would be against military targets (mostly other nukes). If one did hit a populated area, the region between instantly dead and totally fine is narrow. Yet this page implies all readers are in that region, and the danger of fallout is highly exagerrated. Get to a shelter? What fration of a percent of the population can they accomodate? I just texted 43362 with my zip code (San Jose, CA) and got this reply: "We could not locate a SHELTER within 200 miles of [zip]." Even during the cold war hysteria of the early '80s, my town of 30,000 people had only one shelter: the bank. The COVID-19 stuff is perfectly at home here.

professoretc 5y ago

I picked the worst time to build a deck over the fallout shelter in my backyard.