Surviving nuclear war

[squeehunter]

I was wondering if there is a full blown serious guide somewhere on how to survive a nuclear war. I've seen short ones on how to deal with fallout, and how to stock up and whatever, but I want one that deals with the aftermath too. What happens to daily life after civilization falls apart.

I figure it's only a matter of time before something big and bad happens (whatever it might be) so I might as well prepare. I was going to buy some guns anyway just for fun.

 

[.Pixote.]

This book has all of the answers - Home Fallout Shelter Snack Bar Basement Location Plan D
Don’t forget the Mars bars and chips…
http://www.archive.org/details/HomeFalloutShelterSnackBarBasementLocationPlanD

 

[Professor Danger!]

According the first episode of the tv show "Jericho", just a couple hours in the basement is good. Or a cave.

 

[UnidentifiedFlyingTard]

I have always planned to make my way to a cave to wait it out, the only problem is what would I do after the fact?

 

[Hausen]

I have always planned to make my way to a cave to wait it out, the only problem is what would I do after the fact?

Refer to your avatar for that answer.

 

[CloudlessDruid]

I can say that I spent at least 5% of the time of the last 5 years thinking on how I'd survive in my city and neighborhood if a nuclear attack occurred.

 

[the_cpl]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW4s7TETtJA[/youtube]

 

[Blakut]

The best book i've seen:

http://www.oism.org/nwss/

 

[iridium_ionizer]

I've seen short ones on how to deal with fallout, and how to stock up and whatever,

Which is what this is

The best book i've seen:

but I want one that deals with the aftermath too. What happens to daily life after civilization falls apart.

I figure it's only a matter of time before something big and bad happens (whatever it might be) so I might as well prepare. I was going to buy some guns anyway just for fun.

The problem is that there is isn't really a guide for that big and bad situation. What government organization is going to write a guide for when civilization breaks down? Then the government organization won't exist and among the survivors it will be every man for themselves (or for their friends and family).

Your best bet is to look at the aftermaths of recent large disasters (e.g. Hurricane Katrina, Haitian earthquake, bombing of Hiroshima, etc.) and imagine what would have happened if no one came to their aid. What if their was no society left to organize a recovery program or take in refugees? That's why you might as well start reading some good sci-fi novels (not crappy ones) about the subject because no one really knows what would happen if their was so big a disaster that modern civilization as we know it ended. The reaction of survivors would probably vary from culture to culture.

In a different but similar thread I wrote this:

You play Fallout for a while. You learn a few new things about navigating the hazards of the Wasteland. [+5 % to Outdoorsman skill. ]

Seriously though, most of surviving a large scale nuclear attack depends on if there is a warning; if you have the time and opportunity to get to a good or at least adequate shelter; how long you can stay in there with clean food, water, and air; if you have access to potassium iodide (to prevent thyroid damage if you receive a large radiation dose); if you have a Geiger counter or other method of accurately gauging when the outdoor radiation level return to tolerable levels (which could range from a week to several months depending on the location and severity of the attack).

The first phase is just surviving and it depends on luck, location, preparation, and what kind of attack it is. The second phase is about finding a long-term source of clean food and water and defending yourself (and your supplies). The main thing there is to figure out some way to organize you, your loved ones, and other people you trust into an effective fighting force.

This isn't to say you need to kill everybody in your way, but you can't let in every scavenger who might be part of a different gang of thugs, you can't let idiots in your group jeopardize your safety just to satisfy their sense of democracy, you can't feed all the people you come across because then you'll both run out of food. It involves arming yourself, keeping watches, finding a good destination (to ultimately grow food) or a good migratory path, and knowing when and how to integrate new people into your fledgling nation (until - if ever - relief arrives and you can or should reintegrate your group into a larger group/country).

You need to evaluate new comers, keep a watchful eye on them, make them swear allegiance to the group, and get them to commit to the group before you ever let them hold a rifle, etc. And you need to enforce military discipline within the group. This isn't to say that you need a strict chain of command adherence, but you would need to avoid stupid mistakes and to prevent decision making from devolving into the dangerous arguments that get people killed in zombie films.

 

[CloudlessDruid]

the worse of the first to the second phase in my opinion is finding your friends and family, if you are alone. I pass most of my day without my friends, my girlfriend or my family next to me, so if that were to happen, probably it would happen when I were far from them. If you live in a big city, finding someone you want to be with or you want to check if its alive its going to be pretty hard. Can you imagine walking through a city like New York, Berlin, Moscow or any other big city in the world, filled with scavengers and people trying to survive, without any transportation, and remembering the fact that the city will be filled with ruble, and probably lots of parts of the city will be inaccessible.

The first phase is most a matter of luck.

Now, the second phase, you have to remember something, even if you absolutely have the best ideas, the best leadership, and everything else, depending on the group of people you are dealing with, they may reject your leadership and organizations attempts. I always think that if something like a nuclear attack or any other catastrophe happened to me, and if I were in my university, the chances of some meat head taking the leadership and doing common stupid mistakes would be pretty high haha. In these hypotheses, I always think I'd probably not stand to be together with these kinds of people, and probably in the first chance I'd leave.

 

[Blakut]

If you live in a big city, finding someone you want to be with or you want to check if its alive its going to be pretty hard. Can you imagine walking through a city like New York, Berlin, Moscow or any other big city in the world, filled with scavengers and people trying to survive, without any transportation, and remembering the fact that the city will be filled with ruble, and probably lots of parts of the city will be inaccessible.

If you live in a big city you'll probably be dead... nukes will fall...

Your best bet is to look at the aftermaths of recent large disasters (e.g. Hurricane Katrina, Haitian earthquake, bombing of Hiroshima, etc.) and imagine what would have happened if no one came to their aid. What if their was no society left to organize a recovery program or take in refugees?

A disaster like Katrina did not destroy the whole society. It didn't disrupt everything like say, a nuclear bomb.

Maybe something wide scale, like the tsunami in the Pacific a few years back. Then again, if a disaster strikes an already fucked up country, the state of things after the disaster won't be very different from the state of things before it.

If you cut out electricity in New York, all hell breaks loose. Cut power to some village in my country, they'll just light a candle.

 

[iridium_ionizer]

A disaster like Katrina did not destroy the whole society. It didn't disrupt everything like say, a nuclear bomb.

Maybe something wide scale, like the tsunami in the Pacific a few years back.

That's my point. In all of recorded human history we don't really have any examples of a disaster destroying the whole society. Even that tsunami didn't directly affect people that lived more than 100 or so feet above sea level.

There are some other disasters that were very traumatic to society: the black plague of the middle ages, various scorched earth military campaigns of ancient and modern society, or the Spaniards conquering the Aztecs and Incas (largely due to the diseases they carried), but they don't quite compare to the death toll that would occur if 23,000 nuclear warheads rained down on every major city in the world.

Most disasters seem either localized, slow in there onset, or having a less than severe death toll (a relatively high survival rate). We could consider the devastations caused by prehistoric ice ages or the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs, but modern humans societies have almost always been able to survive by waiting it out or migrating.

Then again, if a disaster strikes an already fucked up country, the state of things after the disaster won't be very different from the state of things before it.

If you cut out electricity in New York, all hell breaks loose. Cut power to some village in my country, they'll just light a candle.

I completely agree. Our dependence on modern technology and infrastructure for food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, and safety is part of what makes human society so vulnerable to catastrophic disasters. At least this means most first world buildings are built to code. But it is crazy to consider how many people have disposable income but don't keep a months worth of non-perishable food and water in their home.

 

[Blakut]

And another thing, so far, more than 1000 nuclear warheads have been detonated on Earth. Would 23000 destroy the whole planet? I doubt it.

How many square miles would be obliterated by 30k warheads? Nuclear fallout from modern weapons is a lot smaller nowadays...

 

[fallout_fan]

This is how it will really happen.

With ICBMs you will only have about 10-20 minutes to get where ever you plan to hide out at. But ost likely the goverment will issue some type of warning, probably through the emergency broadcast system. Then the streets will fill with panicking frantic and probably rioting people. Cars and any vehicles will be useless seeing as how people will be on the roads and highways "escaping" just like you planned to do. So unless you can get there on foot in 10-20 minutes you won't be going anywhere to survive anything as the roads will be nothing but grid lock.

You would need some time of advanced warning system or be able to see the future. Which probably isn't possible. I know who does have an advanced warning system. The goverment. They have satellites that will and can detect the heat blooms of launching ICBMs. So when they see the launches the president will be whisked away in airforce to a base under mountains in the Western US. It would probably be some place like what was seen in Terminator 3.

But if you do plan to try and "survive" then you will probably need whats known amongst survivalists as a bug out bag. Look it up. I did. Im plan to make one. Not for nuclear attacks, but more for economic collapse.

 

[victor]

Im plan to make one for economic collapse.