Nuclear Survival

What would do if you knew the possibility of a nuclear attack was possible? What would you do if you knew it was imminent? Are you ready for something like this? Surviving a nuclear blast is not impossible, in fact it is not even close to impossible. That is, you can survive it if you are prepared.

The first thing you would need is a place to be protected from the radiation. You have to know if you are going to stay where you are or leave. Even if you are intending to leave at the first warning, I would suggest that you also prepare a backup plan in case the attack is unexpected and finds you at home. If you live in a house, rather than an apartment, with a basement, it can be as simple as a small area in one corner. Set up what may look like a small flat roofed house in that corner. The flat roof of the house should be below the level of any windows in the basement. The longest side of the shelter should be totally enclosed. the end should be open so you can get in but there should be something that you can pull behind you to shut that off too. Store enough ready to eat food inside the shelter for two days. You should not have to spend more than two days in the shelter. If you live in an apartment in a city, pick the best closet nearest the center of the apartment and use that as your shelter. Again, have two days of food and water in the closet. Whatever you use you need to be sure it is big enough for your entire family to stay in for two days.

Radioactive fallout is carried by particles of dust or smoke caused by the mushroom cloud. These particles float through the air and if there is little or no wind the will not go far. However, there is usually enough wind to carry the particles quite some distance. The closer to ground zero, the more of the fallout will occur. The radiation is not carried in air it needs the particles to carry it and the particles need to land on something to make it radioactive. As the particles fall, the farther away you are the less particles are going to get there. The particles are dangerous because the emit radiation that can penetrate most walls, roofs, clothing, water and most other materials. you need eleven inches of concrete or sixteen inches of earth to stop that radiation completely. You would need over three feet of wood because it is not dense enough to stop the radiation. That is the reason that in a basement you want the shelter below the level of the windows and below the level of the ground surrounding the basement. You can also stack items on top of the shelter to provide even more protection. While the fallout is initially very potent it weakens as time passes. After seven or eight hours it is only about one tenth as potent and after two days it is only about one one hundredth as strong. This is an amount that, if you take proper precautions you can move about in.

What you will need in your shelter beside food and water for two days is flashlights, plates and utensils for eating, something to go to the bathroom in, (a five gallon bucket with a seat and a plastic bag liner and a cover, toilet paper, a radio and any prescription drugs that are needed. this should hold you for the two days that you will need to stay in the temporary shelter. After that it will depend on whether you are going to stay or go as to what you will need.

For those of you that are going to stay put, you may want to think about building a permanent shelter. Those of you who live in the country or very small towns and grow their own vegetables (as all survivalists should) could build a root cellar. At least that is what you could tell anyone that got nosy and wanted to know what you are doing. As I currently do not have a permanent shelter and intend to stay where I am, that is one of my ideas. You could make it as long and wide as you felt necessary for the number of people that are going to use it. I would then dig down about four feet and start from there. I would build a wood structure out of two inch lumber and would cover that with about six inches of concrete and cover that with about eight or ten inches of dirt. I believe that the combination would give me all the protection I would need. A person could use a root cellar/bunker like this to store all of their survival food and a lot of other gear. Putting in shelves and racks for food and supplies would not be difficult with the wood walls. that is one of the reasons that I would go for the wooden structure. You could even go deeper than the four feet if you wanted to. If you went five feet down and two feet above ground, once you put the cement and dirt on top of it you could have a nice rounded area where you could plant grass and it would not look too out of place. Do not forget to put a air vent in the roof. Otherwise you could use up all of the oxygen and suffocate when you had to use it. A six inch length of PVC pipe could be stuck through a hole in the wooden roof and the cement and dirt could be poured around it. Cut it off at ground level and put an elbow on it so that you are not going to get fallout straight down the pipe.

There is much more that needs to be said and I will continue on from here next time. I will not be gone as long as I have been this time. I will try to get everything done in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, check out my other blog at;

http://www.therealamericanpolitics.blogspot.com