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Back to the Bunker
Oldsmobile writes "On Monday, June 19, about 4,000 government workers representing more than 50 federal agencies will say goodbye to their families and set off for dozens of classified emergency facilities stretching from the Maryland and Virginia suburbs to the foothills of the Alleghenies. They will take to the bunkers in an "evacuation" that sources describe as the largest "continuity of government" exercise ever conducted, a drill intended to prepare the U.S. government for an event even more catastrophic than the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The vast secret operation has updated the duck-and-cover scenarios of the 1950s with state-of-the-art technology -- alerts and updates delivered by pager and PDA, wireless priority service, video teleconferencing, remote backups -- to ensure that "essential" government functions continue undisrupted in an emergency."
Two municipalities. Let's not forget that a lot of people died at the Pentagon; a former co-worker of mine was on that plane.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
*sigh* how easily we forget history. Watch those old training films. Hiding under a desk or picnic blanket will provide protection in the event of a nuclear attack.
If you see the flash of a nuclear explosion, and if you're not already dead, then it probably means that you and the building you're in will be hit with a powerful shock wave in a few seconds.
So yes, getting under a desk is an extremely good idea. Just getting down on the floor or ground is a good move. If you are standing up, you will be thrown around a lot more.
The very worst thing is to think: Gee whiz, what the hell was that, stand up, and walk over to the window to look outside. Unfortunately, it's also the natural human reaction. If you read the accounts of Hiroshima survivors, it's clear that, because of this natural reaction, there was a lot of death and injury in the zone where you get a few seconds warning.
The other things to know are to leave the city, since the part which is not flattened will be burning down for a while, and to avoid fallout -- especially eating or drinking anything contaminated by fallout.
Obviously you're going to have very many people killed in any nuclear attack on a population center. But if you have advice that could save five or ten percent of those people, it would be very wrong not to give it out. It's much the same as training for earthquakes, tornadoes, or fires.