Russia Ukraine war, page-222220

Suddenly the world is very bright. Shit.

The world around you goes blindingly white. Painfully white.

The bad news is a nuclear event just occurred. The worse news is you are not far enough away to hear about it first on the news. You’re not dead, but you might be soon.

The good news is you weren’t in the immediate blast area. You have work to do.

Timestamp E+0 Seconds:

1. You really have an urge to look at the light. It’s natural. DON’T DO IT. You are not evolved to look at that sort of light. It’ll damage and potentially destroy your sight forever.
2. Instead look at the shadows on the ground. Which way are they coming from? Turn your back on that direction.
3. Feel free to curse internally or out loud.
4. Remember the story of Lot’s Wife? Every asshole around you is going to try to look straight at the light. Scream/tackle/slap them to avoid it if you have to.

It is already too late to avoid the initial direct radiation wave. You caught those rads. Diving into a ditch won’t help. If you are so close to the blast that you don’t have time to plan your next move, you’re going to die due to heat/over pressure anyway. Stay calm.

Timestamp E+2 seconds:

1. Continue not looking at the light.
2. Look at your watch if it is handy and you multitask well. Knowing how many seconds have elapsed is helpful.
3. Identify shelter. “Shelter” in this case means somewhere to ride out the blast wave that is coming. You don’t have a lot of time, so don’t be picky. If you can shimmy down a storm drain that is ideal. More likely you will be ducking behind a wall in a city. Glass windows are not your friend. Outside the city, hills/boulders/mounds of dirt are great. Imagine that you are about to be shot at with the worlds largest shotgun.
4. Assess who is around you. If they are in your immediate area you may be able to save 1–2 of them who are blind. Assume everyone but you will be blind. Grab and drag the nearest 2 stumblers to shelter with you if they are within the sound of your voice.
5. Yell something like “Don’t look at the light! Follow my voice!”

Timestamp E+5 seconds:

1. Continue to not look at the light.
2. Hustle toward your shelter.
3. Open your mouth and leave it open to protect your eardrums.
4. Keep an eye out for wind sucking in the direction of the blast. When this happens you have only seconds left before the blast wave hits. It will also go eerily silent. “God takes a breath before He screams.”

Timestamp E+15–60 seconds:

1. Continue to not look at the light.
2. Keep your mouth open.
3. Shove or direct any fellow survivors into the shelter. Tell them to lay down and cover the back of their head.
4. Until the wind starts blowing toward the blast, look for any movable item that might shield you from debris. A board is nice. You probably won’t find one, but it would be very helpful.
5. Join your fellow survivors face down, head covered behind the shelter.
6. Maybe strip off any polyester clothing you are wearing. It will melt to your skin if the heat wave is too strong.

Counting the seconds between when you first see the light and when you hear the explosion is another way to judge distance.

Every 3 seconds of delay means you are +1 kilometer away from ground zero.

Every 5 seconds of delay means you are +1 mile away from ground zero.

That math can also be reversed if you know how far away the likely target was. This can tell you how long you have to find shelter.

If you are not able to multitask that kind of math in your head while handling an emergency, don’t bother. Use the time to run.

If you are able to multitask in that way, then Hello Artilleryman!

If you are experienced enough to estimate the payload and can do the math in question you can later sort out roughly how much direct radiation you took. You would use the initial total radiation dispersal, your distance from the blast, and apply the inverse square law.

If you further have enough medical knowledge to understand what effect that radiation will have… why are you reading this?

There is a value to that data however. Even if you cannot calculate it. It will help with triageing you and deciding what treatments to use if you survive.

Timestamp E+4 minutes:

The blast wave has passed.

The heat wave has passed.

You are deaf. God has just bellowed with all His might in your face.

But you are alive. And you may have saved a couple people. Pat yourself on the back!

Now it is time to find somewhere to wait out the immediate fallout, and hopefully wait for help to arrive. Dust is going to fall. If you inhale that dust it will kill you. If not today, then in 1 or even 20 years. If it lands on your skin expect radiation burns and eventual skin cancer.

The best case scenario would be something sealed. If the glass did not shatter, any building will do. Less ideal is a vehicle with intact glass.

The vehicle will not work. The Electromagnetic Pulse almost certainly burned out everything that makes a vehicle function if it is newer than about 1980. So there is no “drive away on our own” advantage to ducking into your Escalade. Plus you will have to live in there for hours or days. That is where you will piss and shit.

If none of the above shelter is available, the next option would be a covered area with as many sides walled in as possible. The wind is your enemy.

Cover your mouth and nose with cloth. Breathe through that. Open your eyes as little as possible once you settle in.

Timestamp E+10 minutes:

1. Keep your face covering on. Improve it with tape/straps/strips of cloth.
2. Find eye protection if you can.
3. Triage and treat anything life threatening.
4. Explain the situation to the rest of the group.
5. Try to shore up your shelter. Tape doorframes. Cover an open direction with a tarp. Turn on the air recycler in your car.
6. Turn on a radio if it survived the EMP. News and Emergency Alerts will be helpful.
7. Try to call a non-local relative on your cell phone. Maybe it survived the EMP? Unless you had it in a static bag it probably didn’t, but it is worth a try. Local Emergency Services will be overwhelmed and you will get a busy signal. By calling a distant relative you are appointing an agent who can calmly direct Emergency Services to your area ASAP. It may be awhile.
8. Comfort each other

Timestamp E+1 hour:

1. Try to create a signal for rescuers. Shiny shit. Or a fire.
2. Gather all the food and water you have (if any) in one place to be rationed.
3. If the phone is functional but you didn’t get through at first, keep trying. Everyone is trying to call out right now. The network will be slammed.
4. Start the long waiting vigil. Try to talk about anything that keeps peoples minds off their own likely impending death, and the fact that their friends and family may be dead. Having a mental breakdown now is dangerous. Play a game.