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Show V-tf-'-A - - ....mW " .. xs-fl'"--' -voS-'' The second atomic bomb ever exploded made a charred wilderness of the Japanese city of Hiroshima. Of the city's 340,-000 340,-000 population, 100,000 were killed. A A A A ATOMIC ATTACK A-Bomb Damage Would Be Big But Cities Can Survive Blast II an atomic bomb was exploded 2,000 feet above the sidewalk of New York city today, from 100,000 to 500,000 people would die, depending upon that number within a mile and a half radius of the point of the explosion. Most Americans can not conceive the power and destruction of such an explosion, and, many have shrugged hopelessly believing that there is no defense against sure death if an atomic bomb was dropped in their vicinity. There are, however, some things the public can do to help itself. Many of these things have been outlined in a book entitled "The Effects of Atomic Weapons" just published by the atomic energy commission at Washington and the United States department of defense. de-fense. The book suggests that the public pub-lic can help itself on a community scale by an alarm system, by designating des-ignating large shelters, by training to meet emergencies, by preparing to evacuate target areas and by long range, but hastened, development develop-ment of highways and removal of danger points, such as slums. Many cities, such as New York and San Francisco, have started such programs. Three Types of Bombing As individuals the public can protect pro-tect itself by learning how to take care of injuries, by deciding in advance ad-vance how to act under attack as a family or neighborhood group, by preparing simple home shelters. Death and destruction from an atomic attack would be immense, but a city can survive as many did from terrific conventional bombing. The terrible destruction and death rate from an atomic bomb is outlined in the book which tells what one bomb did to Hiroshima where 100,000 of the 340,000 population were killed, and what happened at Nagasaki Naga-saki where 70,000 of the city's 250,000 people died from one A-bomb explosion. The book reports there are three possible types of A-bombing: High air burst as at Hiroshima and Nagasaki Naga-saki where the bombs were exploded ex-ploded about 2,000 feet above the cities, low ground, and underwater or underground. The high air burst is the most probable in an attack on the United States. It kills the most people and does the most wide-spread damage. Its effectiveness is somewhat determined de-termined by weather and topographical topo-graphical conditions. But in the average American city it would: Kill 85 per cent of the people within with-in a half mile radius of ground zero (the point directly below the burst), 35 per cent at one mile and 2 per cent at a mile and a half. Cause various radiation and conventional con-ventional violent injuries and burns up to several miles. Explosion Described Obliterate virtually all property above ground in the first zone. Do damage ranging from intense to light from the first zone to some eight miles from ground zero. Cause immense fires. Dr. J. O. Hirschfelder of the University Uni-versity of Wisconsin, head of the board of editors for the book, describes de-scribes an atomic explosion: "A fraction of a second after the bomb explodes, a ball of fire shoots out to a radius of 150 yards. It gives off, light of the same spectoral characteristics as the sun. "On a clear day, the light from the hall of fire will produce pro-duce skin burns up to a distance of two miles. Under some conditions, condi-tions, the whole area beneath the explosion may be converted into a huge fire storm or bonfire. The above picture shows a column of water about 2,000 feet across at its base and 5,000 feet high boiling up out of Bikini Bi-kini lagoon in the U. S. A-bomb test. "It takes the blast wave one second sec-ond to reach one-half mile, three seconds to reach one mile, and seven seconds to reach two miles." In these seconds there are many things a person can do to protect himself if he has the presence of mind. The book suggests, if you are outside out-side and that awesome glare occurs: oc-curs: Don't look at the glare, drop to the ground, into a ditch or a slit trench if at all possible, or behind anything at all. Curl up to shade your face, neck, hands, arms and legs with the clothed part of your body. Stay that way at least 10 seconds. sec-onds. It won't keep you from radiation, radia-tion, but it will help against flash burns. If you are in the street or on a road, drop prone or duck behind a tree or into a doorway if one is a step or two away. Bend over with back to light. Don't try to get to any shelter not right at hand, because be-cause most of an A-bomb's heat and radiation come in the first three seconds. Wait 10 seconds, then press tightly against a building or wall to avoid falling debris. In the public mind, radiation Is the most frightful aspect of an A-bomb A-bomb attack. However, force and fire far exceed it as destroyers. In fact, exposure does not mean that you are going to die or even that there will be some permanent, peculiar pe-culiar after effects. Book Is on Sale The book says remove your clothing cloth-ing and scrub yourself hard with soap and water. Special methods are effective under special conditions, condi-tions, but soap and water are almost al-most always around and they are pretty good universal decontamina-tors. decontamina-tors. Pay particular attention to skin folds, areas around body openings, open-ings, fingernails and toenails and hair and don't cause skin breaks. The government warns any kind of a shelter in the home might save you a reinforced wall, a corner in the basement strengthened against collapse of the ceiling, a storm cellar or cave. Cut be sure to provide an emergency exit if possible. Space prohibits full discussion of the book, but it is on sale by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Gov-ernment Printing Office, Washington Washing-ton 25, D. C, for $1.25. |