Island Tips for Surviving a Nuclear Attack
By AV Flox & Yonatan Zunger
Two years ago, we were standing over the bomb pits on Tinian, reflecting on our history: one of us on our professional fields, physics and engineering, the other on growing up in the islands, both of us on the burden of the Bomb. The fears of the Cold War seemed distant that day. Neither one of us imagined that today we would be having the conversation that we did: how the islands may be better prepared than the mainland in the event of a nuclear blast.
Everything from typhoon preparedness to coconuts turns out to be useful, and though the odds of North Korea actually nuking Guam are extremely low, we thought it worth sharing. If this has been keeping you up nights, it is our hope that this will help you prepare and put you at ease.
The first thing to know is that a nuclear explosion presents three immediate dangers: the blast itself, the heat wave following detonation, and the radiation wave. Then, after the explosion, the primary dangers become radioactive fallout and contamination. Here’s what you need to know to be ready.
Step One: Prepare
A nuclear attack preparedness kit looks an awful lot like the typhoon kit you already have. (You do, right? Also check out FEMA’s recommended general emergency supplies checklist) Make sure that you have:
- A two-week supply of water for each person and pet, in closed containers (Those five gallon jugs with sealed plastic lids are perfect) The government recommends one gallon, per person, per day.
- A two-week supply of food for each person and pet, in closed containers. And a can opener. (Shoutout to SPAM and Budweiser!)
- Either a chemical toilet or a shovel, since the sewers will probably not be working.
- Any medications you need.
- A good first aid kit.
- A battery-powered radio and batteries.
- Flashlights, candles, etc., and matches.
- Scissors, a sturdy knife and optionally a machete. (To cut people free of things)
- Dust masks (like the kind tourists used during the bird flu, or the kind you use while painting) and eye protection (goggles or snorkel mask will work; you want the kind that go all around to your face).
- Tampons and pads (they are useful for absorbing blood from injuries even if you don’t need them for their intended purpose)
- Condoms
- Plenty of rags to clean dust off of things.
- A spare change of clothes
- Shampoo
The last three probably aren’t in your typical typhoon kit, but as we’ll see below, they can save your life in many ways: don’t leave them out!
Just like for a typhoon kit, put these items somewhere where you’ll be able to access them, even if your home or office gets knocked over.
One important extra step: cover everything in this kit up, especially things like clothes and dust masks that you can’t wipe clean. Garbage bags or tarps work well for this, so long as you secure them, as do Ziplocs for smaller items. During a nuclear blast, everything gets covered with poisonous dust, and keeping that dust off you and your supplies is going to be a top priority!
If you have fuel for gas stoves or generators in your kit, keep them separate from everything else, in case something catches on fire.
You also want to know a few key things ahead of time:
- Find good places around your home, work, and so on, to take cover from a blast. (The section on “surviving the blast” will explain how to pick these.)
- Locate the cut-off switches for the gas and water at your home or office.
- Brush up on your first aid skills, and know the symptoms of radiation sickness and what to do if you see them. (There’s a whole section on this later on.)
Step Two: Surviving the Blast
As mentioned earlier, there are three basic things that can hurt you in a nuclear explosion: the blast itself, the heat wave, and the radiation wave. Once you receive notice of an attack, your first priority is to get somewhere safe from the explosion. After the explosion, you’ll want to get out of danger of any fires, administer first aid, and protect yourself from radiation, in that order.
What it would look like
If a nuclear bomb does go off, the explosion will be in the air; this is because nukes being used to attack cities are generally set to go off between 1,000 feet and 1,500 feet above ground level. The map below should give you a sense of how big the explosion could be, and how your distance from ground zero (the center of the explosion) will affect your risks. This map illustrates the worst-case scenario: the biggest bomb North Korea might possibly have (70 kilotons, which is about three times what they probably do have) going off directly over the middle of Hagåtña. Of course, you don’t know exactly where the bomb would hit (and to be honest, neither does North Korea), so the circles are useful more to show you the sizes of things than anything else.
The circles on the map illustrate the three things that can hurt you from an explosion. The red and gray circles illustrate the damage from the blast: the red circle illustrates total destruction of even reinforced buildings, the smaller gray circle shows destruction of less sturdy structures, snd the larger gray circle shows the range where windows would break. The yellow circle shows the area where you’re likely to get severe (third-degree) burns from the heat wave. Lastly, the the green circle shows the area where you’re likely to get a severe radiation injury from the radiation wave of the blast.
The good news is that the same recipe protects you from each of these dangers: have something solid between you and the explosion.
If you’re in a cinder-block building, the walls make good protection against all of the risks, even the radiation wave. Underground (if you can find anywhere!) is even better, but make sure you’re finding a place that’s easy to open from the inside, and where falling debris won’t obstruct your exit. Cement structures in general are excellent protection, especially with typhoon shutters protecting the windows. Bunkers from WWII are also very good if you can close the openings. Homes made of corrugated metal, metal airplane hangars, and cars do not make good protection — they’re basically flying debris waiting to happen. Rather than hide in these, look for a nearby ditch or other earthen or cement obstruction to hide behind, or best of all, get yourself to a shelter.
Don’t try to take shelter in water. Because water is denser than air and incompressible, it can amplify explosive shocks.
Like in an earthquake, things will be knocked over. Hide under a desk or table if you can, or failing that, stand in a doorway. Keep away from bookcases, shelves, or other things that can fall on you, as well as windows that could shatter. Use your arms to protect your head.
The heat wave, or flash, that follows explosion is a bit unusual, because it’s very powerful — able to cook you where you stand — but so fast-moving that it doesn’t penetrate things well. This is why, very often, the difference between life and death at Hiroshima or Nagasaki was whether someone was standing behind a thin barrier. Typhoon shutters, for example, will protect you well from this; but failing that, if you can even cover yourself with a blanket, that may protect you. Your goal is to avoid having skin exposed to daylight; natural fabrics are better than synthetics (they won’t melt), but use what you’ve got.
Do not look directly into the nuclear explosion, even from far away: it is much brighter than the Sun and will blind you.
Take some time right now to look around your home, your work, and anywhere else you often find yourself, and think about where some good places would be to duck in case of an attack. Knowing this ahead of time, and even practicing it with your friends and family, can save you from having to make complicated decisions during a real emergency.
Step Three: Immediately After The Blast
If you are within five miles of the impact area, there’s likely to be a bunch of debris lying around, along with broken gas pipes and tremendous heat, all of which adds up to a lot of things catching on fire. Your first priority after the explosion is to see if you are in immediate danger, and if so, get yourself and others away from it.
If you can safely turn off your gas and water mains, do so at once. This will help reduce the fire risk and prevent accidents caused by broken water lines.
If the blast happens in an area with a lot of flammable materials — like structures built out of wood — and the fire grows large enough, there is the risk of a firestorm: essentially, a three-mile-high waterspout made out of fire. When a fire gets large enough, its heat causes the air to rise, leaving a vacuum that pulls in air from the sides, further fanning the flames, and creating its own stable wind system. The exact requirements to set one off aren’t well-understood; Hiroshima had one but Nagasaki didn’t, for example. A good rule of thumb is that if you see widespread fires, and especially if there are steady, hot winds, get out of the area as fast as you can, heading upwind: a mile and a half from the blast site is a good distance to shoot for.
In general, keep away from fires. If you or someone near you is injured, and there is immediate danger of fire, render only enough first aid to be able to move to safety.
Step Four: Surviving Radiation
“Radiation” refers to subatomic particles that shoot off from nuclear reactions with enough force to damage cells in your body. You experience radiation all the time — for example, sunlight is a kind of radiation — but during a nuclear attack, you may be exposed to enough to cause radiation sickness, an extremely dangerous condition, as well as various long-term effects. Your main goal during the two weeks following a nuclear blast is to avoid this, and help anyone affected by it to get medical attention.
There are two sources of radiation danger from an atomic bomb: the radiation wave and fallout. The radiation wave is very powerful, enough to cause severe radiation sickness, but it’s part of the explosion, and the danger passes as soon as the explosion ends. It also has a short range: the green circle on the map above shows the area of greatest danger. The same kinds of things protect you from the radiation wave that protected you from the blast: being far away from the center, and having lots of stuff between you and it. For protection from the radiation wave, the thickness of stuff between you and the blast matters the most; cement, earth, and water are the most effective absorbers.
Fallout, the second source of radiation, is radioactive dust made from remaining bits of bomb and debris, which will literally “fall out” from the sky over the next day. This dust steadily emits radiation, so if it gets stuck on (or worse, in) you, it will keep doing that until it’s removed. You can be exposed to fallout if this dust gets on you, or by eating, drinking, or breathing something which has been contaminated.
Get any fallout off your body.
Fallout is literally dust, and getting it off your body quickly can save your life. If you were near or in the blast area, you will very likely have been coated with dust during the explosion.
- Avoid touching your face: you don’t want to ingest any of this.
- Your outer clothing is almost certainly full of fallout. Remove it (touching it as little as possible) and dispose of it. This is even true for people with burn injuries: cut away clothing and get it away from their bodies.
- Your body is covered in fallout, and most importantly, it’s in your hair. Wash yourself promptly, deeply shampooing your hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes, and rinsing them thoroughly. Do not use conditioner as this can bind fallout particles to your hair. Also avoid lotions, coconut oil, sunscreen, or other greasy substances on the skin. Use some of the water you’ve saved to wash, rather than any you see lying around: any exposed water almost certainly has fallout on top of it. (See below)
- Put on a dust mask if you can, and wear it as much as possible, especially during the first 24 hours.
Your pets will need the same treatment. Blue Dawn dish soap is preferred for them by conservation specialists working with wildlife in oil spills, but human shampoo or soap will work as well.
Don’t get any more fallout into you.
During the next 24 hours, fallout will be dropping from the sky, first over the immediate area of the bomb, and then following wind patterns. Wind conditions change, so assume fallout is coming your way until you know for sure it isn’t! The main fallout cloud will have a range of about 40 miles, but it will take a few hours to cover that distance, so if your island wasn’t hit directly, you should take this time to collect extra water (such as buckets your bathtub or a well-sealed water tank) and cover it with anything you have handy, even if the water container is indoors. Fallout will also spread with ocean currents, travelling farther but more slowly.
If you are in any of the fallout areas (anywhere on the island that was hit, or downwind), try to remain in a sheltered location for the next 24 hours. A dust mask and eye goggles can protect you from breathing airborne fallout.
Over the next two weeks, your main concern will be avoiding contamination. Any food or water which was exposed to the air during the 24-hour fallout window is suspect! This is especially true for any open bodies of water — do not drink from them under any circumstances.
Note that people who are suffering from burn injuries or radiation poisoning are likely to be extremely thirsty, and water may be hard to find. Even in this case, don’t give people water from exposed sources: it can kill them. However, coconuts will continue to be safe, provided the coconut has an intact outer skin (so fallout didn’t get shoved in through the sides) and that you wipe it thoroughly before you cut it. Choose coconuts that are not still on trees, as over the next few days the trees will pull up contaminated water from the ground and into the fruits.
Tap water will probably not be safe to drink, especially if your island uses desalination, because the pipes and plant upstream will probably have broken and let god-knows-what in. However, if you’re on an island lucky enough to still have a freshwater lens, and have a working (non-open) well, that water should be relatively safe.
Consider the ocean compromised — don’t swim in it or wash things in it, either. Sand, likewise, retains every kind of crap imaginable, including radioactive crap, so avoid contact with it as much as you can.
As a general rule, avoid eating or drinking anything that comes from an area involved in a nuclear incident. Don’t eat any plants. Don’t fish. Be especially cautious of fresh milk: one of the most common components of fallout, Strontium-90, looks just like calcium to a cow’s body, and later to your own, meaning your body will try to build bones with it. Stick to boxed milk. If ever there was a time to celebrate the many and varied flavors of SPAM, this is it. Ultimately, the same rule holds for anything you eat, drink, chew, or smoke: if your betelnut, leaf, lime, cigarettes, bud, or rolling papers were exposed, they’re now covered with poison.
Clean your hands as thoroughly as possible before touching your face, food, chew, smokes, and so on.
Wipe off containers and tools you might use for cooking and eating before using if they have been exposed to fallout. Do not use containers made of porous materials like styrofoam or paper if you think they were exposed. (If they were in a plastic bag, they are okay — wipe the bag before opening it to be extra cautious. Keep toilet paper and paper towels bagged until danger passes also.)
The oily crud on barbeque grills that were outside during fallout will trap contamination. Don’t try to clean them and do not use them.
Listen to your radio for updates about danger zones, but when in doubt, assume that any food or water that wasn’t sealed has been contaminated.
First aid for radiation sickness
Anyone exposed to substantial amounts of radiation is likely to have some amount of radiation injury, most commonly damage to the immune system. This may complicate treatment of any other injuries or conditions, but is not immediately life-threatening; it may take several months to recover.
People exposed to higher doses of radiation may develop acute radiation sickness. This is a life-threatening condition, and being able to recognize it may save your life or someone else’s.
The first symptom of acute radiation sickness is nausea, starting 30 minutes to 6 hours after exposure, and lasting from a few hours to two days. In more severe cases, the initial delay time can drop to minutes or seconds, and you may also see diarrhea and intestinal bleeding; these are signs of a particularly serious radiation injury, and require immediate medical treatment. In the most serious cases, you will see seizures and unconsciousness; in this case, administer what pain relief you can.
Next comes the latent phase, a period of one to fourteen days during which the symptoms appear to vanish (even if very severe!) and the person appears to be in good health. Don’t be fooled: use this time to seek out medical attention. The “invisible” symptoms, collapse of the immune system and internal hemorrhage, are continuing during this period.
The latent phase is followed by the secondary phase, during which all the primary symptoms return, as well as loss of hair, malaise, fatigue, and loss of appetite; this phase can last one to twelve weeks, depending on severity, and can be fatal.
The Long Term
The instructions above should get you through the critical first hours and days, and include some key tips for the first two weeks. During those two weeks, and beyond, you should expect there to be major disruptions to infrastructure. You have food and water from your preparedness kit, but at some point you’ll need to get more, not to mention medical aid, housing, and any number of other services.
You’ll also have friends, family, community members, and even total strangers that you’ll want to help. If your planning and attention, together with some luck, have kept you relatively safe throughout the initial attack, you’ll be well-placed to help others as well. Think about who you need to check on and how you’ll do that. A group of people working together can survive much better than people working alone.
Conclusion: You can survive
A nuclear attack is not a pleasant thing. It can kill or injure you in many ways. But you can plan ahead and protect yourself. Make sure you have a preparedness kit and know how to use it; this will serve you well in any disaster, not just a nuclear attack. Identify safe places to take shelter, and practice getting to them. And most of all, think through the stages of danger above and rehearse how you’re going to deal with them. Time you spend practicing in your mind will help you be more effective in any real emergency.
