How To Survive The First Hour Of A Nuclear Blast / Fallout! DEBUNKED

emergency alert ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii seek immediate shelter this is not a drill this message from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency flooded the cell phones of locals in Hawaii on January 13th 2018 those listening to the radio or watching TV were told if you are indoors stay indoors if you are outdoors seek immediate shelter in a building remain indoors well away from windows if you are driving pull safely to the side of the road and seek shelter in a building or lay on the floor understandably chaos ensued there were reports of hotels evacuating residents parents and children lying underneath mattresses in bathtubs and people stuck in traffic abandoning their cars others ignored the advice to stay indoors and headed to the beach worrying they could be trapped in a collapsing building similar to 911 yet the seconds passed and there was no missile no explosion no nuclear annihilation 38 minutes after the initial emergency broadcast the following message came through emergency alert there is no missile threat or danger to the state of Hawaii repeat false alarm the whole thing had been a mistake someone had selected the wrong option during a routine check turning a test scenario into a live scenario but what if the alert was real the situation has played out in TV and movies for years but what would it actually be like and what should you really do will Anouk automatically obliterate your entire city will the flash incinerate your witness where is the safest place to hide or should you simply I'm Stu this is debunked and we're here to sort the troops from the myths and the facts from the misconceptions fortunately for most of humanity nuclear weapons have only ever been used in warfare twice back in 1945 when the u.s. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan at the end of world war ii was efficiently preparing for an air raid in sufis shelters the people calmly awaited all unaware that already descending upon them was the atom bomb the first bomb that fell on Hiroshima codenamed little boy exploded with the force of between twelve and fifteen thousand tons of TNT and immediately wiped out an area of 13 kilometers the fireball it produced was 370 meters across with a surface temperature of 6,000 degrees Celsius that's about the same as the surface of our Sun the results of both bombs were catastrophic with an estimated 185 thousand deaths as a result of the attacks perhaps the most miraculous story that came out of the atomic bombings is that of stahma Yamaguchi who saw a bomber in the sky while on a business trip in Hiroshima on August 6th 1945 when suddenly I thought the Sun had fallen from the sky he had just enough time to throw himself into a ditch and even though he was just three kilometers away from the center of the blast he survived albeit seriously burned temporarily blind and with burst eardrums he returned home to Nagasaki just in time to live through this second atomic bomb three days later this time he was in an office and once again he somehow managed to survive in part thanks to a reinforced stairwell that reduced the ferocity of the blast in the building I live it's you to decide whether he's the luckiest or unluckiest man in history yet while mr. Yamaguchi is the only recognized survivor of both attacks a documentary in 2006 discovered a further 165 fellow citizens who lived through both bombings in fact despite the death and devastation the vast majority of people living in either city survived with approximately 71 percent of the population in Hiroshima and 76 percent in Nagasaki making it through the attack this should give us all hope that should the unthinkable happen we might just make it out alive now some of you are probably thinking the nukes have come a long way since World War two and you wouldn't be wrong the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created the Tsar Bomba was detonated by the USSR in 1961 the blast had produced was 50 megatons that's more than 3000 Hiroshima's or ten times the total munitions used in World War two even if you'd stood 100 kilometers away you'd have got third-degree burns now I've got some very bad news and some slightly less bad news the very bad is that Russia is currently developing a 100-megaton nuclear torpedo that's double a Tsar Bomba if one of those nuclear torpedoes hit New York City then eight million people would be killed however the slightly less bad news is that back in 2011 when the US government produced a report looking at how authorities should respond to a nuclear attack they weren't concentrating on such overpowered weapons instead their focus was on smaller improvised nuclear devices or I and DS the sort of device likely to be used by a terrorist organization and thus one people like us are more likely to deal with as the report itself noted a low-yield explosion from an IND is quite different from cold war strategic thermonuclear detonation scenarios upon which much of our current understanding and civil defense planning are based so just how big could a DIY nuke be according to the report anywhere up to ten kilotons which is almost as powerful as the first atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima thus fatalities and casualties are more likely to number in the tens of thousands rather than millions I did say it was slightly less bad news not good news ultimately though your chances of survival boiled down to two factors the yield of the bomb being detonated and your proximity to Ground Zero and your immediate response to the attack let's examine each of these factors in turn the yield of a nuclear weapon is a reference to the energy it releases the bigger the yield the more powerful the bomb usually given in kilotons or megatons of TNT it's the yield of the bomb that will decide how likely you are to die in an instant or live to see Mad Max become your new reality while we're here let's take a moment to dispel a common misconception about the damage dealt by a powerful nuclear bomb it's logical to assume that a bomb 1000 times more powerful than another would do 1,000 times the damage but this isn't the case a bomb 1000 times as powerful as the one they hit or Oshima would produce an equally serious blast damage over an area 130 times as large not 1000 times as large of course factors like weapon design whether it explodes on the surface or in the air the geography of the location or even just the weather can have an impact on the ultimate outcome of the blast looking back again at Hashima and Nagasaki even though the second bomb was more powerful the hills around Nagasaki helped absorb some of the damage leading to fewer casualties so let's take a look at the scenario considered most likely the detonation of a ten kiloton nuclear device for the sake of argument we'll say Ground Zero is here Centrepointe in London and the bomb is detonated at surface level the yellow circle is the fireball which has a radius of about 200 meters for our relatively modest bomb remember the surface temperature of the fireball is similar to that of our Sun needless to say getting caught within this area means a extremely quick death the red circle is what I like to call the super shockwave here the pressure of the blast is so great that most buildings are destroyed and while humans can physically withstand the pressure the hurricane-force winds combined with the flying debris mean almost all people in this area are killed for our iron D this is 470 meters from the center of the explosion moving further out we see the extent of the blue circle which illustrates the medium strength shockwave you're likely to find most residential buildings have collapsed numerous fatalities and extensive injuries amongst those who have managed to survive we're now approaching almost one kilometer from Ground Zero at one point to five kilometers we're reaching the limit of the extreme radiation within this green circle people are absorbing doses of radiation 800 times greater than the average American is exposed to in an entire year what this means in practice is death rates of between 50 to 90 percent from radiation poisoning leading to painful deaths lasting anywhere from just a few hours to several weeks expect to suffer from nausea and headaches to begin with followed by your hair falling out bleeding and increased chance of infection if you make it beyond the first few days then finally the orange circle which extends just over one point four kilometres from Ground Zero shows the thermal radiation produced by the blasts people caught in the open as far as two miles away suffered flash burns yet protection could have been easily achieved here a bridge post and rail shielded the surface behind it any solid material afforded similar protection the heat is so intense that third-degree burns are almost inevitable these can be fatal in themselves or require amputation even beyond this area first and second degree burns are likely due to the immense heat all tolled an area of 6.2 square kilometres would have been decimated by the hypothetical IND approximately 30,000 people would have died with 75,000 more injured some estimates the death toll in such densely populated areas are far more distressing coming in at 100,000 according to urban redlener director of the National Center for disaster preparedness at Columbia University even at 13 kilometers there's between a 10 to 20 percent chance of dying instantly from a ten kiloton device so let's take a look at a second scenario what would happen if the Tsar Bomba had been detonated in the same place in London unsurprisingly a bomb 5,000 times more powerful produces annihilation with over 4.5 million estimated fatalities and 3 million injured the thermal radiation from the fireball even gets close to Oxford and Cambridge it's probably best not to think what those doomsday torpedoes the Russians are currently working on could do regardless of how powerful the bomb is if you get caught in this area your chances of survival are going to take a significant hit within reaching rock bottom if you happen to be unlucky enough to find yourself close to the fireball at Ground Zero so make matters worse we haven't even looked at the effects of nuclear fallout yet but fear not because this is where knowing what to do in the first hour of a nuclear attack might just mean the difference between life and death right so now it's time to take a look at the second factor that would determine your chances of survival how you respond to the attack an atom bomb destroys or injures in three ways by blast heat and radioactivity these then are the weapons of the atom bomb that we must protect again according to Jeff Schlegel Milch deputy director at the National Center for disaster preparedness if you see a nuclear flash the first thing to do is get behind a barrier in case the shockwave comes bear in mind the shock wave is traveling at hundreds of kilometers an hour so you won't have long to find cover when Yamaguchi took shelter in a nearby ditch however the shockwave lifted him up off the ground spun him around like a tornado and threw him into a nearby field radiation safety specialist Brooke Budd Maya recommends sheltering behind something they structurally sound when I think of where I would go for protection from prompt effects and from the blast wave in particular I think of the same kinds of things that we do for tornadoes be in an area where if there's a dramatic jolt things aren't going to fall on you if you do manage to survive the shock wave things sadly don't get much easier it's now a real race against time essentially when the bomb goes off the explosion creates an immense amount of dust and debris which combined with the radioactive products a result from the nuclear reaction at the heart of the bomb this radioactive dirt is drawn upward into the sky by the intense heat this is where you'll usually see the distinctive mushroom cloud however as those radioactive particles cool they make their way back to the ground and that fallout means trouble for you you will have some time to take action to keep you and your family safe the biggest thing get inside stay inside and stay tuned the likelihood is they all have somewhere between 10 to 20 minutes to find shelter to make matters worse you might also be blind turns out explosions that are basically miniature Suns are a bit overwhelming for your eyesight fortunately this lack of vision should only last about a minute unfortunately if the attack happens at night and you're out in the dark the blindest might last up to 35 minutes for the sake of argument we'll say our hypothetical situation takes place during the day since not being blind makes it a lot easier to find shelter I'm also going to assume that you haven't been preparing for the end of the world and built your own state-of-the-art fallout shelter shouldn't you be in your shelter e knees by now we haven't got shot very nice it's a pretty safe assumption even at the height of the Cold War when nuclear obliteration haunted everyone's lives it shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba as an attack by the Soviet Union on the United States less than 2% of Americans ever actually bothered to build a bomb shelter or create a safe space in their basement although that assumption doesn't apply to Switzerland which has built around 250,000 shelters enough to accommodate its entire population but for the rest of us there's a good chance you don't have a spare bunker lying around so where should you go first off don't stay in your car the metal doors and glass windows are going to be way too thin to protect you from gamma radiation mobile homes won't offer adequate shelter either instead try to find a basement or a larger multi-story building remembering the key factor is putting as many thick layers between you and the fallout we're talking concrete or brick here so nice looking glass skyscrapers or homes built out of wood and plaster aren't your best bets if you're in a city with a subway system heading deep inside would also offer a decent level of protection assuming you've made it inside somewhere above-ground avoid the top floors all the fallout is going to settle on the roof and the whole point of going inside is to stay as far away as possible from those pesky dust particles there are emitting dangerous levels of gamma radiation which could lead to radiation poisoning instead get to the center of the building if there's time to close off areas where fallout might enter doors fireplaces air conditioners windows then do it okay let's look at a slightly different scenario one where things didn't go quite so smoothly this time we've abandoned our car and sprinted to the nearest sturdy looking building but fallout might be starting to land around you if you think it is the best thing to do is cover your nose and mouth with a rag and close your eyes stumbling around like this won't be easy so in the example it's taken 15 minutes to actually get inside did any of that fall out land on you is it in your hair or on your clothes it might be which means you're at risk of getting acute radiation poisoning I don't want to sound like too much of a pessimist but a bad sign at this stage is if you've already started vomiting since your gut is highly sensitive to radiation puking is a sign you've absorbed a pretty heavy dose of the bad stuff and the prognosis is probably death if you haven't started hurling everywhere there's plenty of things you can do to get rid of any fallouts that might be on you carefully remove your outer layer of clothing this can remove 90% of radioactive material put it in a plastic bag and leave it somewhere far out of the way take your time wiping your kids off too quickly might shake free any radioactive dust and that's not going to help anyone a shower would also be quite handy by all means treat yourself to some soap and shampoo to help wash yourself off but avoid using conditioner it will bind radioactive particles to your hair I'm afraid your vibrant and glassy hairstyle is one of the many casualties of a nuclear disaster even if there's no shower wash your face hands and any body parts that were uncovered using a sink damp cloth or wet wipe again the key is using plenty of water and taking your time the last thing you want to do is scratch yourself and allow radioactive material to get into your skin by now it's likely an hour is past which means that the radioactive fallout outside will have already decayed by 50% within the first 24 hours it will have given up 80% of its energy going up to 99 percent after two weeks but remember if the radiation was high enough to begin with that 1% could still be dangerous so staying indoors for as long as significantly possible reduces your chances of contamination according to the US State Department the importance of sheltering in place preferably inside a sealed room for at least the first 48 hours after a nuclear detonation cannot be overemphasized if you can wait for government agencies to send help and listen out for their instructions before vacating your safe spot if you are worried about Kim jong-un going clear a home-made terrorist bomb or alexa becoming self-aware and starting world war 3 then you might be interested in preparing a basic emergency supply kit chances are though you're not going to be carrying this with you when disaster strikes so just remember this get inside stay inside and stay tuned and you might just make it thank you for watching check out the video that's on screen now and if you haven't subscribed then please click on the button below we have a patreon page and if you'd like to support us click on the button and check out our rewards we want to make more videos and it's your support that helps make this possible we hope to see you next time

Channel: Debunked

Views: 1,149,478

Rating: 4.8444567 out of 5

Keywords: myth busters, debunked, debunk, myth, urban legend, fact, biology, physics, how to survive nuclear fallout, nuclear survival kit, nuclear winter, keep calm and survive, how to survive, how to survive a nuclear, nuclear, atom, hydrogen, atomic, science, chemistry, what is fallout, fallout, surviving fallout, chernobyl, lies taught, nuclear bomb, atomic bomb

Id: al0CVsiffu8

Length: 19min 4sec (1144 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 21 2019