How should you prepare for a nuclear war?

How to prepare for Nuclear war

During the Cold War, the UK produced the "Protect and Survive" leaflet, designed to equip households with practical information about surviving a nuclear war.

The reality is that for some inner city locations, survival chances would be very very slim. The key however being to survive radioactive fallout as those in the blast zone itself would suffer greatly.

One need only read the document to see a few interesting observations:

You should store water for 14 days
You cannot remove radiation from water by boiling it
You should stock food and a radio
Make a fallout room in your house and equip it with things such as cutlery and sleeping bags!
How to manage sanitation
Know what to do when hearing a siren warning
48 hours you must stay in your refuge

This checklist still provides a good basis for nuclear war protection. The advice about 48 hours is crucial and you have to stay inside for 48 hours and ideally 2 weeks. Radioactive fallout decays quickly over 48 hours and then again after 2 weeks.

Furthermore the assumption that water would be available again after 14 days seems very optomistic. Likewise the old MAFF food stores designed to help get the nation eating again no longer exist. Whilst Food is part of the "critical national infrastructure" – how quickly food would become readily available again (especially considering the harmful impacts of radioactive fallout) would be questionable.

The assumption has always been that there would be a long period of international hostility – typically with Russia – prior to any serious threat of nuclear attack. A surprise out-of-the-blue attack is considered extremely unlikely. It would soon be quite obvious that things were not going well – most likely a Russian invasion of a Nato country. In the event that happens, international diplomacy is heading downhill rapidly.

For some (those who live away from nuclear targets or on the coasts), the initial impact of a nuclear attack could go unnoticed. If the National grid is capable and enough power is still being generated (for example with a much greater use of renewable energy), there may even still be power flowing. You might get internet, you might get water, but it wouldn’t be long before food would start to run dry.

As discussed on our Ukraine page in the section about Nuclear war, the greatest risk comes from a nuclear winter and a global decimation of the ecological system (particuarly in the Northern Hemisphere). The extent to which that can even be survived is extremely doubtful!

Our resources below are designed to provide lots of information about survival and if you wish to see any added, please let me know!

Civil Defence today

How to prepare for Nuclear war

References/Links