Hawaii panic over inbound ICBM--- Alert

Sounds like we should just go over the basics.....in the event of a nuclear bomb, drop and cover. Aassuming you survive the initial blast and following shock wave you then have about 20 or 30 minutes before the fall out starts. Once the fall out starts you need to be in a protected area with a minimum of 1.2 meters of soil thickness between you and outside, but any mass you can put between you and the fall out is better than none. You need to stay in the shelter for weeks. Because typical fall out has a short half life, the radiation level would only be 1/125th of what it was on day one after only two weeks but you still need to worry about accumulative exposure.
To breath in any fall out dust is a death sentence, so dust protection is required. Radiation works on accumulation and the maximum average exposure should be 5.7 milli sieverts per hour, a shelter reducing exposure to a much lower value would be ideal.

As I mentioned previously geiger counters can be found on ebay at prices under one hundred dollars, if you own one you can work out when it is safe, or not, if you don't own a geiger counter you have lots of guessing to do and may need to listen to radio broadcasts to know when it might be safe to leave your shelter.

I heard a podcast recently (although I’m not sure if the podcast was recorded recently) that I can’t seem to find again now, that had a guy interviewed about nuclear war. One of the things that he mentioned was that a Geiger counter is not much use because they are too sensitive and would be ruined the first time you use them after something like a nuclear explosion if you’re wanting to tell if it is safe. There was a different device that he said was more relevant to that situation, although I can’t recall what it was called.

I’d be interested to hear any thoughts on that.

A post I previously put up on another site that relates to this thread:

The Manual I have is by Ivan Tyrrell. The first part of the book is an interesting comparison of the state of 'civil defence' in different countries (as it was in 1982). Turns out that US propaganda upto that point (and probably persisting to this day) supporting their Mutual Assured Destruction doctrine pretty much back-fired. In 1982 civil defence against nuclear attack was pitiful in US and UK as the majority of public in those countries believed the 'official line' that an all out nuclear war was simply unsurvivable. The leadership believed promoting this opinion was the key to deterrence and expected the commies to believe it. USSR and China (and many other countries) believed no such thing and developed extensive civil defence programs and infrastructure based on hard data and testing. According to Tyrrell large proportions of prepared countries populations would likely survive all out nuclear war.

He points out some interesting things about events within the blast zone in Hiroshima (12.5KT) ... such as after 24 hours all bridges were open to traffic, after 48 hours trains were running, within 9 days telephones were operating. Extensive medical studies showed no increase in cancers in 109 000 survivors and no increase in birth defects in women who conceived after the event.

The rest of the publication is key facts about nuclear weapons and radiation and a 'how to' guide for shelter construction and post attack living.

The Chinese are well organised. Best that kids have some idea rather than be totally clueless.

Hey Spatial, are those manuals something that you can post up on this site as an attachment? Or do you have a link to somewhere on the web where they can be found?