How to Survive a Nuclear Strike

Learning what to do in the event of a nuclear strike just took on a whole new urgency now that Kim Jong Un just threatened to nuke the US.

We don’t know if Kim Jong Un actually has the capability to nuke the United States, but we do know that little dictator in North Korea is batcrap crazy. So if he actually does have the ability to hit the United States with a nuclear weapon, do you have any doubt whatsoever that he’d do it?

Last week, it was reported by numerous sources that Seal Team 6 had been deployed to do away with Kim Jong Un. At the time, I thought that seemed a little weird, because wouldn’t that be a top secret mission? Why would they actually warn Un that they were coming?

Weirdness aside, the leader of North Korea responded with an incredibly unsettling warning via his Foreign Ministry:

“The Korean People’s Army will reduce the bases of aggression and provocation to ashes with its invincible Hwasong rockets tipped with nuclear warheads and reliably defend the security of the country and its people’s happiness in case the US and the South Korean puppet forces fire even a single bullet at the territory of the DPRK.”

According to a report on SHTFplan, the Secretary of State said that Americans “patience has ended” with the antics of Kim Jong Un.

If you were one of those people who felt such a sense of relief when Trump became president instead of Hillary Clinton that you stopped prepping, you might want to rethink that. A nuclear attack could mean one of two things – a missile sent to some location on American soil or even an EMP that detonated above the country, wiping out the power grid.

If there is anyone is crazy enough to start a nuclear war, it’s this guy. He has already shown that he refuses to cooperate with the demands of neighboring countries. Even though he has to be aware that retaliation would be swift and brutal, if he thought he could get in a sucker punch, I believe he would do it.

Do you know what to do in the event of a nuclear strike?

Preparing for a strike vs. an EMP are very different. For the purposes of this article, we’ll talk about a direct strike.

Contrary to popular belief, a nuke won’t kill everyone within hundreds of miles. If you aren’t in the immediate blast radius, a nuclear strike is absolutely survivable.

If you are within 10-20 miles of the blast, the winds will be coming at about 600 miles per hour. This will take down buildings and cause a tremendous amount of pressure. Some experts recommend that you keep your mouth open to try and reduce the pressure on your eardrums.

If you manage to survive that part, you have about 10-15 minutes to evacuate the area before you are exposed to a lethal amount of radioactive fallout. It’s time to get the heck out of Dodge if at all possible. The advantage you will have is that most people will still be trying to figure out what on earth happened. The disadvantage is that roadways may not be clear due to damage from the blast.

Your other option is to immediately get to shelter.

During a talk on surviving a nuclear attack, professor Iwrin Redlener, US specialist on disaster preparedness, said: “In that 10 to 15 minutes, all you have to do is go about a mile away from the blast.

“Within 20 minutes, it comes straight down. Within 24 hours, lethal radiation is going out with prevailing winds.”

Prof Redlener said you should feel for the wind and begin running perpendicular to it – not upwind or downwind

He said: “You’ve got to get out of there. If you don’t get out of there, you’re going to be exposed to lethal radiation in very short order.

“If you can’t get out of there, we want you to go into a shelter and stay there. Now, in a shelter in an urban area means you have to be either in a basement as deep as possible, or you have to be on a floor – on a high floor – if it’s a ground burst explosion, which it would be, higher than the ninth floor.

So you have to be tenth floor or higher, or in the basement. But basically, you’ve got to get out of town as quickly as possible. And if you do that, you actually can survive a nuclear blast.”

The most hazardous fallout particles are readily visible as fine sand-sized grains so you must keep away from them and not go outside if you see them. (source)

If you take shelter, you should plan to stay there for a minimum of 9 days.

A few other nuclear survival tips:

• If you are in your car, make certain to turn the vent to recirculation so that you don’t bring any outside air into the vehicle.
• If you have duct tape on hand, use it to seal up any entrances to the room in which you are taking shelter. (Hint: You should always have duct tape on hand.)

If you are far enough out to have a bit of time, you can fortify your home to prevent much of the fallout from getting inside.

• Use duct tape and tarps to seal off windows, doors, and vents.
• Turn off any type of climate control that pulls the outside air into your home.
• If someone enters the home, make certain that there is a room set up that is separate from other family members so that they can decontaminate.
• All clothing they were wearing should be placed outside and they should immediately shower thoroughly.

Have enough supplies on hand to wait out the danger.

As with many emergencies, you need to be prepared to survive at home without help from anyone.

• Stock up on emergency food.
• Have a supply of water for all family members and pets that will last throughout the 9-day waiting period that you need to remain indoors.
• Make certain you have an iodine supplement on hand to protect your thyroid gland.
• Be prepared for the potential of a power outage.
• If you have pets, have supplies on hand for their sanitation – you can’t let them go outside because not only would they be exposed, they would bring radiation in with them.
• Make sure to have a supply of any necessary prescription medications.
• Have a well-stocked first aid kit.

Finally, print out this manual from the US government about surviving a nuclear emergency. It was written with first responders in mind, but much of the information would be applicable for us, too. It discusses:

• The effects of a detonation in an urban environment
• Shelter and evacuation recommendations
• Medical care
• Decontamination
• Preparedness steps you can take well before an emergency occurs

None of these preps are completely outrageous items that you’d never use. I’m not suggesting that you go set up a bunker in an underground cavern. (Although that would be pretty cool.)  These are common sense preps that many of you may already have on hand.

Personally, I’d rather know what to do ahead of time instead of trying to figure it out after the fact when I only have 10 minutes to save the lives of my family members.