New Advice for Nuclear Strike - Don't Flee, Get Inside

[Renew Deal]

Suppose the unthinkable happened, and terrorists struck New York or another big city with an atom bomb. What should people there do? The government has a surprising new message: Do not flee. Get inside any stable building and don’t come out till officials say it’s safe.

The advice is based on recent scientific analyses showing that a nuclear attack is much more survivable if you immediately shield yourself from the lethal radiation that follows a blast, a simple tactic seen as saving hundreds of thousands of lives. Even staying in a car, the studies show, would reduce casualties by more than 50 percent; hunkering down in a basement would be better by far.

But a problem for the Obama administration is how to spread the word without seeming alarmist about a subject that few politicians care to consider, let alone discuss. So officials are proceeding gingerly in a campaign to educate the public.

“We have to get past the mental block that says it’s too terrible to think about,” W. Craig Fugate, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said in an interview. “We have to be ready to deal with it” and help people learn how to “best protect themselves.
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Lots more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/science/16terror.html

[NightWatcher]

1. Duck and Cover part deux

[Vincardog]

2. Another plus it makes the bodies easier to identify

[HopeHoops]

3. I have a poster that came out in the early 60's. List of things to do. Ends: "kiss your ass goodbye

The last instruction actually reads, "Bend over and place your head between your knees and kiss your ass goodbye."

[nc4bo]

4. Oh gee - have any nukes gone AWOL recently? What a strange article

with strange timing.

Is this the new, improved TERRA1!1 call?

Let me finished reading this.......

[csziggy]

11. Perhaps a reminder of why START is important? n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Was government advice ever 'flee'?

I really can't believe it was. I thought they'd always said 'shelter, as far indoors as you can', 'listen to the radio for advice' and so on.

[shawn703]

6. Exactly

People were building fallout shelters in the 60s because they planned on staying put, not because they planned on fleeing.

[Karmadillo]

7. But no matter what, BE AFRAID & guarantee your safety by deferring to the Masters of the Universe.

All Hail, Wise Leaders!

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Well they are right, one type of radiation waves will not go through

a sturdy wall.

My question is why are we gong though this crap again though?

[hunter]

9. I'm ready for anything with all the latest fashions...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Absolutely. It's embarrassing to kiss your ass goodbye in public.

[Occam Bandage]

12. Who ever suggested running around through an irradiated wasteland? Obviously that's a terrible idea.

[Robyn66]

13. Its Christmas at Ground Zero-by Wierd Al Yankovich

It's Christmas at ground zero
There's music in the air
The sleigh bells are ringing and the carolers are singing
While the air raid sirens blare

It's Christmas at ground zero
The button has been pressed
The radio just let us know
That this is not a test

Everywhere the atom bombs are dropping
It's the end of all humanity
No more time for last-minute shopping
It's time to face your final destiny

It's Christmas at ground zero
There's panic in the crowd
We can dodge debris while we trim the tree
Underneath the mushroom cloud

Ronald Reagan:
Well, the big day is only a few hours away now.
I'm sure you're all looking forward to it
as much as we are.

You might hear some reindeer on your rooftop
Or Jack Frost on your windowsill
But if someone's climbing down your chimney
You better load your gun and shoot to kill

It's Christmas at ground zero
And if the radiation level's okay
I'll go out with you and see all the new
Mutations on New Year's Day

It's Christmas at ground zero
Just seconds left to go
I'll duck and cover with my Yuletide lover
Underneath the mistletoe

It's Christmas at ground zero
Now the missiles are on their way
What a crazy fluke, we're gonna get nuked
On this jolly holiday

What a crazy fluke, we're gonna get nuked
On this jolly holiday!

[JVS]

14. Is this their way of telling us that the terrorists have nukes?

[gordianot]

16. I wonder, after all it is the season.

If you see a bright flash at least you saw the immediate blast and survived that, just do not go outside to watch what happens next.

[NuclearDem]

21. Hey, guys, no reason to be alarmed, but, um....

Does anyone know how to fly a plane?

[Kennah]

15. If a nuclear blast occurred ...

... then isn't the best policy one of "Drop, Fuck, and Cover". Might as well go out with a bang.

[walldude]

17. Is this a fucking joke?

They don't want to be "alarmist"? Here's a suggestion, assume that people are not stupid enough to stand outside during a nuclear attack, and the ones that are are just pruning the gene pool anyway.

50 fucking years of this duck and cover crap. What was it the Chancellor said in "V For Vendetta"?

"I want this country to realize that we stand on the edge of oblivion. I want everyone to remember *why* they need us!"

[MadHound]

18. What absolute horseshit

So you stay inside a building to shield yourself from the radiation(which given the intensity of gamma radiation coming from a bomb blast, this simply isn't going to happen) only to have the building collapse on top of you from the shock wave.

Why don't they simply admit what we already know, the only thing that you can do in case of a nuke going off in your neighborhood is to kiss your ass goodbye.

[hunter]

19. In my underground bunker, safe and sound...

I finish reading my paper while my lovely wife prepares dinner and my daughter sets the table.

After dinner we'll listen to Amos 'n' Andy on the radio.

Life is good.

[Renew Deal]

20. I think they are giving you the best advice possible.

You're better off inside than outside, but not by much.

[Ezlivin]

22. Why doesn't the military release its list of likely targets?

Then we can all move somewhere else.

I'll see you in Canada!

[zigzagzed]

23. They would have used it already

If al-Qa'ida had a nuclear weapon, they would have used it already. If they don't have one by now, it is unlikely they will get one. Nevertheless, I think the planning guidance represents a reasoned response to a low probability, high risk threat. It is a far cry from backyard bomb shelters and Duck and Cover drills, and represents modern computer modeling instead of the Red Scare fear-mongering of the 1950s.