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Show Editor'! Note: This is the first in series of articles dealing with potential nuclear and natural disasters which cou'c) affect Davis County residents. Information k taken from a book, "Nuclear War Survival Skills" written by tresson H. Kearney, world-renown researcher, author and lecturer on the subject of nuclear warfare. The book is published without copyright by the American Security Council Education Foundation. By GARY R. BLODGETT Since the dropping of two atomic bombs over Japan during World War II, the "Nuclear Age" has brought fear as well as security to many millions of Americans. KNOWING WHAT devastation was leveled against the Japanese in 1 945 , Americans now fear the unknown results of an all-out war between Russia and the United States an act of mankind that could create the worst catastrophe in history, a tragedy so huge it is difficult to comprehend. With this fear, there are many myths, as well as facts, that have arisen in the minds of many Americans. Amer-icans. This article will attempt to explain some of those myths vs. facts, according to Mr. Kearney. BUT BEFORE explaining these myths vs. facts, Mr. Kearney emphasized that there is "good chance of survival from a nuclear attack if proper preparations prepara-tions are made in advance." This includes the construction of an underground shelter not in the basement of a home but in an isolated area; and to stock this shelter with an emergency kit, canned food, bottled water, battery-operated battery-operated radio and lights, bedding, change of clothing, clo-thing, sanitation facilities, and last, but not least, a simple radiation detector. (THERE WILL BE more about how to prepare these emergency facilities in following articles). Myth: Fallout radiation from a nuclear war would poison the air and destroy all environment. It will kill everyone. FACT: A NUCLEAR bomb exploding close to the ground will form a crater and the initial impact of the bomb will be devastating. It's killing power will be determined by the size and type of nuclear bomb exploded. Away from the impact area, fallout will be the big problem. Myth: Fallout radiation will penetrate anything: and there is no escaping its deadly effects. FACT: SOME GAMMA radiation from fallout will penetrate even an excellent shelter and reach its occupants but this amount of radiation could well be less than a person receives during a lifetime of x-ray radiation exposure. To receive this protection, however, the shelter must be designed with sufficient suffi-cient thickness of earth or other heavy-shielding material. The denser a substance, such as solid dirt, the better it serves as a shield against radiation. Muth: A heavy nuclear attack would set practically practical-ly everything on fire, causing "firestorms" in a city that would exhaust the oxygen in the air. All shelter occupants would be killed by the intense heat. FACT: A one-megaton (1-MT) bomb blast could cause second-degree skin burns for a distance of ten miles. A one-megaton bomb is equivalent to the explosive power of one million tons of TNT. Fire danger is expanded on a very cleco. dry day and is diminished if the weather is cloudy or smoggy because be-cause during the latter particles in the air would be absorbed and scatter much of the heat radiation. Myth: In the worst-hit parts of Hiroshima and Nagasaki where all buildings were demolished, everyone was killed by the blast, radiation or fire. FACT: SOME PEOPLE survived uninjured because be-cause they were far inside (air raid) shelters that were built for conventional bombing and were located as close as one-third mile to "ground zero" the point directly below the explosion. This was true even though these long, large shelters lacked blast doors and other devices that should be included in home shelters. Also, many earth-covered family shelters were essentially undamaged even though nearby buildings were leveled. Myth: Because some H-bombs are over 1,000 times as powerful as the A-bombs dropped over Japan, these H-bombs are 1 ,000 times deadlier and destructive. FACT: IT IS estimated that an H-bomb blast could be more than 100 times as destructive and deadly as an A-bomb, but not 1,000 times if exploded under similar conditions. If the Soviet SS-9 missile capable of delivering a 20-megaton warhead exploded in the U.S., it is believed it would extersively damage a great majority of the buildings up to 16 miles from ground-zero and would do lesser damage to structures struc-tures up to 350 square miles. In, or close to the crater area of such a blast, even the best blast shelters would be obliterated or buried. It would create a crater believed to exceed 500 feet in depth. An air blast would be less devastating. AN "ALL-OUT ' enemy nuclear missile attack could seriously cripple the entire United States since the Russians are believed to have approximately 10,000 megatons that's 10,000 times a million tons of TNT explosive power that could be levied against this country with both surface and air blasts. Most large cities would be destroyed if such a massive attack occurred, and without well-supplied blast shelters most urban Americans who would have remained in their cities would be killed by the blast, fire and very heavy radiation fallout. Thus, Americans would greatly improve their chance of survival if they were to evacuate the cities and move into shelters in underground facilities away from the blast area. MYTH: SO MUCH food and water would be poisoned or contaminated by fallout that people would starve to death even in remote areas where there is enough food and water. Fact: If radiation fallout particles do not become mixed with the food, no harm is done. Contamination Contamina-tion will not affect canned food, for example. Even fresh fruit and vegetables may be eaten if peeled first. Water from many sources such as deep wells, covered tanks and reservoirs, and in enclosed containers con-tainers would not be contaminated. Even water that has been contaminated can be made safe for drinking by simply filtering it through earth (as will be described de-scribed later). MYTH: MOST OF the unborn children and grandchildren grand-children of persons who have been exposed to radiation radia-tion will be genetically damaged or malformed. Fact: A 30-year study of children born to parents of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks show that the incidence of abnormalities is no higher among parents pa-rents exposed by radiation than children born to unexposed parents. However, this is not to say that there would be no genetic damage, but the studies do show that genetic problems were far fewer than expected. |