How To Survive A Nuclear Blast

What To Do If Your City Is Getting Nuked

Although it is likely that you will never have to use any of these suggestions, let’s get the obvious ones out of the way. Of course, there are very simple and basic things you can do today that a lot of doomsday preppers are already doing. These include stocking food and water to last long enough to survive the nuclear fallout. Building a fallout shelter in your backyard or basement so you can survive the initial blast. Making sure you are indoors right away after the initial blast. Storing away weapons and ammo so when you finally jump out of your doomsday bunker. If you live in a town that has a heavy concentration of military bases or government buildings, there is a good chance you won’t make it if you are too close. All these are obvious things that don’t require an article being dedicated to. But what about the little things that will actually save your life? Let’s discuss those below.

The Building You Pick Might Decide Your Outcome

Chances are you won’t have a fallout shelter or you’ll be busy running errands if this moment ever occurs. So what should you look for? Brick and concrete is the way to go, and getting as many layers of them between you and the radioactivity is your best chance. For this reason, alone, office blocks are actually a pretty good place to hide in after a nuke. The idea is to get to the dead center of the building, putting as many layers of brick and concrete between you and the radioactive air. Hiding inside a house is only two times better than standing in an open field of gamma rays, however hiding in an office building can increase your chances by a factor of 200.

The Timing Of Your Exit Is Important

We have all seen the movies where a family hides in a shelter after an atomic bomb is dropped and stay there for years before coming out. Let’s kill that myth right away to avoid any confusion. Irradiation becomes incredibly weaker fairly fast. Within 24 hours of an atomic bomb being dropped, the surrounding areas radiation can be reduced to less than 10% of its initial potency. You do not have to stay inside a bunker for weeks or months to the point of near starvation before coming out to hunt. By then you’ll be much weaker and tired, and there is also a good chance that most of the good stuff has been taken by raiders. However before jumping out too soon…..

Crank Up That Ham Radio

The only problem with coming out of your bunker too soon is that there may be additional nukes following up the initial one. If a large city got nuked but there’s a fair portion remaining, chances are that extra nukes will be ordered to finish the job. There are nearly 15,000 active nukes in the world today, once the crap shoot starts, nobody is going to go stingy on their stockpiles. So this is why having a ham radio will come in handy. Any surviving government, news broadcasting, or survivors will be transmitting via radio lines. This is an opportunity to check if it is safe to go outside or if additional nukes are being dropped around the nation. There will be no internet, cell phones, or even running electricity. The ham radio is your only tool out of the rediscovered dark ages once you hand crank it to gain power.

Lie Down & Don’t Look At The Blast

Many people don’t discuss the “what if” scenario of an atomic bomb dropping while you’re at a public park or big open field. Don’t just assume you’ll be a goner, there are things you can do. Obviously, if there is a ditch nearby, it’ll be best to jump in it. If time permitted and you’re able to build a small ditch, this would also be an ideal situation. But most likely that will be difficult to manage, so you’re best bet is to find a nearby structure that is hard such as a tree or statue or large rock and take cover. Lie down with your face down on the ground. Try to remain as flat as possible to the ground. Do not look up at the blast, just seeing the light or shock waves from the fireball can possibly blind you. There will be zero chances of surviving the apocalypse if you are blind and raiders take over.

Get Naked & Shower As Soon As Possible (Avoid Conditioner)

Let’s say you managed to stay alive after the blast and you did not become blind from looking at the mushroom cloud of death, there is one thing you can do that will dramatically increase your chances. Get naked and shower! The sooner you get those radioactive isotopes off of you, the better. Just taking off the outer layer of clothing can get rid of as much as 90% of the fallout stuck on you. Any clothes you had should be placed in a plastic bag and thrown away as far away as possible, as this plastic bag is now highly radioactive. It might sound silly, but the radiation can and will get EVERYWHERE. Make sure to take a shower to wash away the radioactive material off your skin, and most importantly, your hair. DO NOT use conditioner, as this will actually bind the radioactive material into your hair which will pretty much guarantee some sort of cancer sooner or later. Don’t forget to wipe your eyelashes and eyelids and blow your nose. Yes, nuclear fallout literally gets everywhere.

Don’t Drink The Water

Ever heard of the famous saying that people tell tourists that visit Mexico? It’s basically “don’t drink the water” because you’ll get Montezuma’s revenge which is essentially a lot of diarrhea from drinking water heavy in bacteria. Well, keep that tourist mentality after the blast. Do not drink tap water, as there is an extremely high chance the water supply is contaminated by the nuclear bomb. Drinking radiated water will most definitely kill you slowly. Your choices will be limited at first, but it’s not impossible. Tap out any water from household radiators or even the water in the top of toilets. It may be gross, but it’s safer than radioactive water.