By the author of Be Ready for Anything and the online course Bloom Where You’re Planted
After the meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump seemed to end on an optimistic note, one may have hoped that our fears of a nuclear attack would subside. Not so, according to New York Magazine, who published an article entitled, “This Is What a Nuclear Attack on New York Would Look Like.”
While the timing may seem odd, it’s important to note that feelings are mixed about the North Korea-US summit. Some are pleased and feel that a great deal was accomplished, while others are unhappy – even angry – that Trump made nice with a brutal dictator.
It’s tough for many folks to separate their feelings about Trump, whether those feelings are animosity or support, and it shows in their assessment of the conversation. And this isn’t unique. People had the same difficulties with President Obama. Supporters thought everything he did was great, while detractors thought he was the Anti-Christ. We’d all be wise to try to separate our feelings from our take on current events, as difficult as that might be. However, that isn’t what this article is about.
What would the nuclear threat look like?
The New Yorker piece is prefaced with the opinion that the potential nuke won’t be from the sources most of us have been worrying about. “If America is attacked, the strike probably won’t come from North Korea. And it will be even scarier than we imagine.”
The intro is a political diatribe with some legitimate facts that are overshadowed by a blatant bias. But Ferris Jabr is an experienced science journalist who is a contributing writer for Scientific American and has been published in Wired, Foreign Policy, Aeon, Hakai, New Scientist, and Quanta, to name just a few outlets. Don’t be too put off by the first couple of paragraphs to read the very credible information he provides in the rest of the article. The author discusses a distinct, chilling possibility that has quite a bit of merit.
…a nuclear attack on the United States could well come not from the skies but from the streets. Experts warn that it would be relatively easy for terrorists to build an “improvised nuclear bomb” and smuggle it into America. Building a ten-kiloton bomb nearly as destructive as the one dropped on Hiroshima would require little more than some technical expertise and 46 kilograms of highly enriched uranium — a quantity about the size of a bowling ball.
This is absolutely not outside the realm of possibility.
Last month, some weapons-grade plutonium went missing from a university in Idaho. While the amount taken wasn’t enough to make a giant nuke, it was certainly enough to make a dirty bomb. I was unable to find any indication that the plutonium was ever recovered, and if any readers know, please post your links in the comments so I can update this article. This isn’t the first time that nuclear materials have gone missing – far from it. In 2013, the Washington Post published an unsettling map that showed dozens of thefts or losses of the ingredients required to cook up a dirty bomb or worse.
The New York Magazine article posits that the bomb would likely be assembled elsewhere and then smuggled into the United States but we can’t overlook the possibility that it could be just as easily assembled right here at home, should such an event occur. The article explains how a crude 10-kiloton bomb could be made and smuggled in (and it’s quite thorough to my untrained eye)
Once terrorists obtained the uranium, they would need only a small team of sympathetic engineers and physicists to build what is known as a gun-type nuclear bomb, like the one dropped on Hiroshima. A gun-type nuke uses traditional explosives to fire a slug of uranium through a tube directly into another chunk of uranium, fracturing huge numbers of atoms and unleashing a massive amount of energy…
…The last step in the process — smuggling the weapon into the United States — would be even easier. A ten-kiloton bomb, which would release as much energy as 10,000 tons of TNT, would be only seven feet long and weigh about 1,000 pounds. It would be simple to transport such a device to America aboard a container ship, just another unseen object in a giant metal box among millions of other metal boxes floating on the ocean. Even a moderate amount of shielding would be enough to hide its radioactive signature from most detectors at shipping hubs. Given all the naturally radioactive items that frequently trigger false alarms — bananas, ceramics, Brazil nuts, pet deodorizers — a terrorist group could even bury the bomb in bags of Fresh Step or Tidy Cats to fool inspectors if a security sensor was tripped.
Jabr then suggests that the shipment could reach port in Newark, New Jersey, after which a route through the Lincoln Tunnel into Times Square might be the likely course.
What would happen when the nuke detonated?
Keep in mind that this article is specific to New York City. Anyone who lives there or has traveled there will finish reading it with a clear picture in their minds of the landmarks mentioned. But even if you never set foot in the Big Apple, the information delivered in such a relatable way is priceless.
I’ve written a great deal about the survivability of a nuclear strike if one doesn’t happen to be at Ground Zero, and it seems that the author of this piece agrees. Here’s an excerpt:
A ten-kiloton nuclear bomb detonated on the ground in Times Square would explode with a white flash brighter than the sun. It would be seen for hundreds of miles, briefly blinding people as far away as Queens and Newark. In the same moment, a wave of searing heat would radiate outward from the explosion, followed by a massive fireball, the core of which would reach tens of millions of degrees, as hot as the center of the sun.
When such a bomb explodes, everyone within 100 feet of ground zero is instantaneously reduced to a spray of atoms…Near the center of the blast, the suffering and devastation most closely conform to the fictional apocalypse of our imaginations…Within a half-mile radius of the blast, there would be few survivors…
As the fireball travels outward from the blast, people, buildings, and trees within a one-mile radius would be severely burned or charred. Metal, fabric, plastic, and clay would ignite, melt, or blister. The intense heat would set gas lines, fuel tanks, and power lines on fire, and an electromagnetic pulse created by the explosion would knock out most computers, cell phones, and communication towers within several miles.
Traveling much farther than the fireball, a colossal pressure wave would hurtle forth faster than the speed of sound, generating winds up to 500 miles per hour. The shock wave would demolish the flimsiest buildings and strip the walls and roofs off stronger structures, leaving only their naked and warped scaffolding. It would snap utility poles like toothpicks and rip through trees, fling people through the air, and turn brick, glass, wood, and metal into deadly projectiles. A blast in Times Square, combined with the fireball, would carve a crater 50 feet deep at the center of the explosion. The shock wave would reach a diameter of nearly 3.2 miles, shattering windows as far as Gramercy Park and the American Museum of Natural History.
All this would happen within a few seconds.
As this pulse of radiation surges through the bodies of everyone who is outside, or in weakly insulated buildings, it wreaks biological havoc at the molecular level…Within minutes to hours, most people exposed in these areas would begin to show signs of acute radiation syndrome…
The article is well worth reading to get a clear, horrifyingly detailed picture of the reality of a nuclear attack for those closest to Ground Zero. It continues to explain what would happen to those within a few miles in the hours and first days after the attack, and has some excellent advice on how to protect yourself should you find yourself in close proximity to a strike. The author concludes:
A terrorist-built nuclear bomb detonated in Times Square would injure 300,000 people and kill 250,000 — 20 times more deaths than in any natural disaster or act of terrorism in America’s history. More than 500,000 would eventually be killed or injured by the radioactive fallout…
…Overall, a nuclear missile detonated in the air over New York City would be more destructive and deadlier than a ground explosion, because it would generate a larger blast wave and fireball. By contrast, a nuclear bomb detonated on the ground loses some of its destructive power, because the energy is absorbed by the ground itself, but kicks up more dirt and debris, producing a much larger amount of radioactive fallout and causing a higher proportion of deaths from radiation sickness and cancer.
Really, it seems to me that this scenario of a crude nuclear bomb detonated on the ground in a populated area is a whole lot more likely than a missile strike from across the ocean.
You need to learn to protect yourself against all types of nuclear threats.
By understanding exactly how this would affect Ground Zero and the area around it, we give ourselves a much greater opportunity for survival. Clearly, in a localized event, the entire country would not turn into a nuclear wasteland like the setting of The Road, but this is a common misconception that leaves people paralyzed in fear.
It would be centered around the blast area, but the radiation and plume would travel. Being prepared for this possibility is far wiser than saying, “I’ll just take my chances and die. Who would want to live after that?”
The unfortunate thing for those who deliberately choose the option of remaining unprepared is that you probably won’t just die in the blast. You will die a horrific, lingering death, in agony as your skin peels off, your organs shut down one by one, and your loved ones suffer beside you.
Learn how to create a survival shelter in your home. For thorough, practical, and actionable information, check out my on-demand webinar with former Army NBC Specialist, Chuck Hudson. Even if you aren’t at home when something terrible happens, that information could save your life. Knowledge is power.
So, tell me how you get an EMP with a ground detonation.
The emp still takes place, but its area of effectiveness is reduced greatly, likely to a few miles around the site. This is why hanb/emp shots are detonated at a high altitude, to cover a wider area with emp. Militaries also have localised emp weapons that are typically carried on cruise missiles, they are meant to drop enemy computing and comms centers and are effective to a few blocks or less. Man made emp may or may not use fission as the emp source as emp can also be generated by collapsing an strong inductive field, however these non nuclear emp weapons generally still employ an explosive charge to collapse the magnetic field in nanoseconds as opposed to the time it would take for mechanical switching mechanisms to respond and collapse the field. Sorry I get off on these tangents, this stuff has long been of interest to me.
Thank you for answering that question, Josh. I really wasn’t sure of it.
EMP happens from the detonation of any nuclear weapons regardless of altitude. If it’s underground then some of the pulse will be absorbed by the earth.
Ain’t gonna happen. NYC ground zero for the moneychangers
Not so sure here, I seem to recall the “whore of babylon being destroyed in the space of an hour, with the merchants at sea bewailing her great riches”, etc, all this destruction coming” when they cry peace and safety”, then sudden destruction comes upon them. I can’t help but feel this is a prophecy directed at the US, especially our great cities like NYC.
WOW! This is just what 9/11 looked like.
So people were blinded by a flash of light as far away as Queens and some even suffered accute radiation sickness? On 9/11?
What news we’re you watching?
No, I don’t know what you read but I read that the bomb they would use would cause a bright flash of light, so bright that people would be blinded and people would also suffer acute radiation sickness. A bomb like this in NYC would be worse than 911 .!!!!
Tactical nukes used on 911. High grade, next generation mini nukes. I remember it being odd that they forbid the sale of geiger counters in the city after 911. then it made sense.
They use to tell the one about the nuke that hit Texas A&M campus down at College Station. Did $84 dollars and 36 cents worth of improvement.
In all seriousness though, the time to be most concerned about a nuclear attack is when everyone is sure it won’t happen. “When they shall cry peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them and they shall not escape.”
Very impressive, important article. Your explanation and commentary very helpful. I have heard that the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were a small fraction of the nuclear WMD available today. I agree that a homemade nuke or dirty bombs seems much more likely. Remember that TV show called Jericho? I also think a lot can be learned from what happened to people after the various nuclear reactor meltdowns. None of those places are okay. There’s a fascinating article out there about the old widows of Chernobyl who eventually broke through the barriers and took their homes back. They wanted to go home and they did. They lived much longer than the experts predicted. The woman live on hunting, foraging and growing a few vegetables. Which means that nature around Chernobyl must have recovered to some degree. I will read the whole New Yorker article. Thank you very much for your article. All of your articles are invaluable and I trust you and your sources far more than MSM. Or actually I don’t even read MSM at all.
The bombs dropped on Japan were small compared to what is in inventory today, yes. I think the average icbm and slcm warhead will be around 170kt (kiloton) and a bit larger, reason being the accuracy of today’s delivery systems is orders of magnitude better than what it was when huge warheads had to be put on a given missile to ensure the target was destroyed completely even if the missile struck miles away from the target. The smaller yield but far more accurate weapon of today means they can wipe out NYC and leave the rest of the state alone if they want to. For kicks, look at how beautiful Nagasaki and Hiroshima re today, they’re amazing for what they went through.
The efficiency of today’s nukes is also a lot greater, getting more bang for the buck. Where this pays off in the survivor camp is that more of the fissionable material will be converted into heat, leaving less to poison the ground that wasn’t converted from matter into energy, and needing less material to begin with in order to get the same bang.
There’s also neutron weapons to consider. These devices convert more of the reaction into intense localised radiation and much less blast effects. The blast effect is what destroys most targets in a nuclear war, with 600mph winds and so on near ground zero, combine that wind with insane temperatures that can literally start rock and concrete on fire and you have the old style nukes. The neutron devices allow you to kill anyone in range almost immediately and then move into the blast zone a half hour later as the radiation has greatly subsided below dangerous levels. These types of nukes were devised to kill tank crews sitting inside their tanks, and to reach/kill people inside bunkers. These weapons don’t set homes on fire (save for at the detonation point) and doesn’t generally cause a lot of material damage, you can push the dead away from the dinner table and finish their dinner a half hour after the neutron bomb killed them, more or less. Neutron weapons don’t have much range from the detonation site outwards but they will kill just about anything living in the area even if they’re deep under cover. These types of nukes are likely what we will face in a nuclear war, as these weapons don’t result in anywhere near the fallout normal nuclear weapons would create in the same power levels and distribution. If “it” does “go nuclear”, this is the weapon we want to use and we want our enemies to use, and Russia and China have them and are advancing their efficiencies all the time. Right now, there are two North Korean satellites that circle the earth at about the optimal emp altitude and cross the US from south to north and could possibly contain emp devices, I think it was Iran or China that allegedly sold super emp technology to North Korea. That being said, North Korea knows if it hits us with an emp, they would see their cities in ashes shortly after.
Wich leads to my second subject, enhanced emp weapons are also being developed and sold by Russia and China. I suppose this technology is seen as less forbidden by the world at large because the emp weapon doesn’t cause blast damage or fallout to any real degree, just destruction of electric and electronic devices that are susceptible to emp..
That being said, there are still warheads of gigantic power levels in stock, just for crotch grabbing purposes I hope.
You’ve omitted one really powerful point which never seems to draw anyone’s attention. You said, “…North Korea knows if it hits us with an emp, they would see their cities in ashes shortly after.” That’s true for all potential aggressor nations and parties. So the logical thing would be a sneak attack, one in which we cannot ascribe blame, and therefore against whom we cannot counterattack.
There was a fascinating novel written about this very subject many decades ago. I’ve long since forgotten the title, but the plot included 25 nukes brought into the US by ship, transported to key locations by rental truck. That simple tactic, or any number of other similar methods of delivery, could both provide massive loss of life and destruction, while at the same time totally obscuring the source and therefore denying us any ability to respond to the perpetrator. Far fetched? Not hardly. Really scary, when you look at all the misery humans have caused each other with far less destructive weapons.
Let’s not forget the “Rods from God” along with the weapon platforms, the triangle anti-gravity craft and the mult. of other tech that is out there decades or hundreds of years ahead of todays tech that is hidden from us. What is discussed here is mundane warfare. Like cowboys and Indians tech vs WW2 tech vs todays tech…
More worrying is taking the boston marathon bomb and wrapping it in commonly available radiological material
gives you a Improvised Radiological Device (IRD).
Some types of resulting contamination are almost impossible to completely cleanup. Look at nuclear plants for examples
I wouldn’t worry about a dirty bomb…unless you’re affected by the actual blast, the amount of radioactive material spread around is pretty minimal if you don’t live in the area. Put on your N95 or better mask and get a decontamination shower when you leave the area and you should be fine. It’s more of a terror weapon making people think OMG, radiation and freaking out, causing as much if not more chaos than the bomb would.
I’d be more worried about a small nuclear weapon being smuggled in via ship then brought up high in a skyscraper so when it detonates, they get air burst effects without a missile. Or worse, if a nation state wanted to mess things up they could go with a container launched missile system like the Russian Club-K system…lots of ways for bad actors to cause any coastal city to have a really bad day.
Just remember to duck and cover behind something solid if you do happen to see the flash, so when the overpressure hits and shatters glass or kicks up debris, you’ll have the best chance of not being injured. Rule of thumb is that for every mile from the blast it takes 5 seconds or more for the pressure wave to arrive, so be patient once you duck and cover.
This is a what could happen if it did happen.. The truth is in the Marshall island where the US conducted nuke test and used the natives islanders as lab rats .. This did happen.. Most islands are to radioactive to live on.. Many died with cancers and live a miserable life of lies from the US Military..
This book is a free downable PDF in various places on the web,
Nuclear War Survival Skills
Updated and Expanded 1987 Edition
Cresson H. Kearny
With Foreword by Dr. Edward Teller
http://www.oism.org/nwss/
The New Yorker? The Washington Post? MSM. Consider the biases.
Last century old school NBC used to say the mass of the buildings would dampen the effects a blast. One concept was that an aerial blast would be more effective since it would create a firestorm that would contaminate dust to be carried on the prevailing climatic winds. The aerial bombing of Dresden, Germany WWII is an example of a firestorm.
Of course, besides the radioactivity, on a ground blast, there would be damages like the shards of skyscraper glass would not be nice to be around. There is the explosion and then there is the negative ‘explosion’ that causes more damage. An example, the negative wind effect of a hurricane causing a vacuum and pulling structures outwards. Something to think about designing a house in addition to Molotov cocktails.
The 1917 ‘Halifax Explosion’ was a maritime disaster in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, on a smaller scale shows what can happen. Many people were blinded by the flash of the explosion.
Chernobyl was reported to cause Leukemia twenty or so years afterwards where the winds took the radioactive byproduct. Birth certificates were coded to study the resultant effects.
The Halifax explosion happened on December 6th. It was winter and cold, so most watching the ship burning in the harbor were indoors looking through the GLASS window. When the ship filled with explosives finally blew up, the pressure wave of the explosion sent GLASS shards into the eyes of all watching, destroying their eyes and blinding them.
It was not the flash of the explosion that blinded most.
Stay safe…
While I was not there, the book “Curse of the Narrows: The Halifax Explosion 1917” by Laura MacDonald describes how crowds of people went to the site of the burning ship, close to the explosion. And more were in the streets at the time. She describes how a New York doctor, an Optometrist I believe, was shocked to see upon arriving in the triage area buckets of removed eyeballs.
Your quote “It was not the flash of the explosion that blinded MOST.”
My quote “MANY people were blinded by the flash of the explosion.”
“Many people” is not “… most”.
Therefore: According to the logic of the above quotes, the flash of a/the explosion blinds, either temporary or permanently.
While I’m not suggesting debris wasn’t a factor, it would be irresponsible to say intense light cannot damage the eyes up to and including blindness.
While I would strongly recommend against looking at an arc welder, note the following quote,
“In addition to the risks of ultraviolet radiation to the eyes of arc welders, retinal damage also can occur from visible light. What is known as the blue light hazard can temporarily or permanently scar the retina. Caused by the retina’s sensitivity to blue light (higher frequency light waves), the condition can lead to blindness. Therefore, it is necessary to wear adequate eye protection when arc welding.”
http://yourfacialskincare.com/2015/06/18/arc-welding-can-be-dangerous-to-your-eyes/
I have witnessed people with blisters of the eyes due to proximity to the light of an arc welder. And that was for a nanosecond of light or reflected light.
My point, would a nuclear explosion be any kinder? If anyone wants to take the word of the MSM, well it’s a semi-free country. The blind leading the blind.
You asked what would happen if the nuked New York?
All the libs would be gone!
Yeah, I’m not seeing a downside. Is there a GoFundMe link to make this happen?
Welp, it looks like the effort to divide Americans into warring factions has worked on you guys. Good job thinking that people with whom you disagree are subhuman and all deserve to die.
Sadly, I foresee another civil war coming. Antifa fascists have already been noted having meetings with isis and other foreign enemies of the US. I can easily imagine two countries, one with a duly elected government following the constitution, the other under another term of the 0bama regime, still intact and operating as a shadow government. The hatred displayed as the norm by enemedia and your average liberal towards President Trump is palpable, and this is sedition, not democracy. When it happens, the anti trump faction will side with foreign enemies who under un auspices, will invade the US in order to stabilise the country.
Nice review but I ‘d like to add some thoughts… Mainly, in re the subterranean destruction the 50’ crater would likely cause. Much of NYC’s infrastructure is underground. In part, that is why we don’t see utility poles and wires hanging across streets as much any more.
A blast such as described – from any cause – would likely affect a significant portion of the underground tunnels, wire chases, plumbing, and waste lines. Your initial description is pretty accurate, though I think somewhat understated – as unfortunate as that statement is.
Many buildings in that area are older masonry structures mixed in between newer iron/composite skeletal structures. While I agree the fascia will be stripped from (most) of the newer structures, the older brick, concrete and masonry buildings will likely collapse in pieces, sections and piles. The concept of “streets” and sidewalks will be largely unrecognizable but from the air. The pile of rubble will be mixed in nature. Largely the contents of whatever fell from the collapsing structures or was blown there in the blast. Picture a mix of dust, rubble, cars, people, furniture, glass… you name it. Whole and in pieces. It won’t be pretty and depending on the weather it won’t last long before the biologicals begin to turn… not that burned food, people, animals, and sewage are a pleasant aroma to begin with. It will be hard to breathe whether the dust has settled or not and the odor will be noted down wind for miles. Not unlike the cloud after 9-11 but more dangerous.
Add to that the sewer lines below the street level will likely be ruptured you can expect fountains of water, raw sewage, steam, and gases to vent to the sky for quite some time – coating whatever the mist/rain falls on with a horrible goo that may land on hot surfaces initially, but persist for days to weeks as head pressure subsides and weather/ rain and even tidal influences re-float and distribute the ugly mess. Much of this detritus will seek the low points it can find – such as subway tunnels, basements, utility chases, storm drains and new sink holes and under ground rivers that the (fluids) create on their way to static equilibrium. Much of the fluid mess will find its way to the Hudson or East River – and much will back up as the normal storm system fills, clogs, and rots in place – wherever that may be. It will be disgusting, disruptive, and hazardous all at once – and it will stay that way for weeks to months to come.
If the blast moves enough ground to rupture an underwater tunnel anywhere in the system – even as a relatively small crack – then hydrostatic pressure from NY Harbor and the East River will begin to back flood the system… rendering the system impassable over time. Pumps installed to relieve this threat will ultimately be overwhelmed or be moot if powerless/fuel-less.
Electricity will fail in the immediate area but as you move out further from the blast area it may take some time for the power to go out completely. NYC is fed and cross fed from more than one electrical source so there will likely be areas where disturbed lines are still energized but not servicing a building or (load) – hot in other words and looking for a ground path. This will be further complicated by back-up systems that may or may not start and add energy to an unsafe system down stream. Large “blocks” and grids will have to be shut down even if they were not directly affected so as to contain the hazard and facilitate (some) restoration where possible.
Restaurant and personal refrigerators and freezers will ultimately spoil and rot. Air conditioning and even simple ventilation will fail. Buildings that remain standing will become stagnant. Whether hot or cold, natural ventilation will be insufficient to feel “comfortable” or even safe. People will use toilets that cease to flush and become stinking piles of rotting sewage on every level.
If it is cold – systems and people will freeze. If summer – it will be like the summer in France some years ago that left thousands sweltering to dying in their homes and offices without 911 to call or remove them. Flies and maggots will bloom. Rats will become bolder as will displaced pets and feral animals that survive. Cell service will of course crash and sections will simply have been obliterated whether by EMP or physical destruction.
Where Times Square was a hub for public news displayed 24/7 – quiet will follow and people will become desperate to communicate with each other. What news/television/radio survives will be centers of quiet desperation – searching for answers that likely nobody will have for quite some time after the endless speculation has been shared, rehashed, and retold to exhaustion. Lists and physical bulletin boards asking for information on the missing will appear spontaneously – but by this time the worst will be understood by all and the act of posting a picture or request more ceremonial than practical in nature.
People will be trapped in elevators, cars, buses, buildings, basements, and subway cars. Think of the poor souls on the Arizona- waiting, signaling, and praying for rescue for weeks that will never come. The ferries may not be able to approach their usual landings – though they may divert and begin evacuation ops as we have seen in other cases. But it may not matter.
Depending on residual radiation and other contamination, response efforts may be suspended. Bridges and exits from the city may be closed and a subsection of the population may in fact be prohibited from leaving by any means until screening and decontamination can be undertaken. Remote (uptown) facilities will likely be set up for quarantine, treatment, mortuaries, and temporary detainment of affected personnel. People will want to leave and not be allowed to do so for the sake of the contamination, and ultimately disease, they will spread. You will be both the victim, the suspect, and the problem for just having survived and life may never go back to what it was before. Many will wish they had not survived and review te dead as the :lucky” ones; and maybe they were. The greatest asset will be friends or family that can be walked to. Neighborhoods will become like an oasis if you are among the ones allowed “in” and difficult to impossible to even pass through if you are not. Never will you be as grateful for a sense of community and belonging somewhere as you did when you were a kid growing up on the block… no matter that back then you hated how everyone knew your business and made it their own. Now this will be what you need most and be grateful for as it is a matter now of absolute survival.
Cash may have some value for a while, but credit cards will be of little use. A bottle of water will seem priceless and a cigarette like the best present or desert you ever got – even if you do not smoke. Commerce will be suspended and only a few know what the post-incident rules of behavior and exchange will resemble. They will be necessarily severe and restrictive. “Personal freedoms” will be curtailed. A curfew will be imposed but efforts to mitigate looting, foraging, and survival will likely overwhelm response and civil services. A large area of the city may be essentially “AIP” (abandoned in place) by forced evacuation. Look at Chernobyl and Fukashima (sp) and you get the idea.
Garbage will pile up and safe water become scarce. The emphasis of your day and life will shift to surviving and helping others do so as well. A shower will seem like a memory and the chance to do “laundry” will make you feel like you are living an episode of Survivor or Green Acres… You will eat less and eat things you would not have considered desirable before – and be glad to have them. You will mourn those you lost and be cautious about forming new relationships – especially outside your community or congregation. If you had planned a family you may re-think that now that life has changed and you have changed to adapt to it.
In time a new sense of order will prevail but nothing will ever seem the same again. No speech, election or monument erected on site will really make a difference in how you think or feel anymore – though you may choose to be more involved and aware of the issues that brought these changes on us all.
The hardest part of the first few moments is that they turn into the first few days; then the first few months; then maybe years… But tomorrow will always seem like something promised but never to be trusted. And this is if you are healthy and safe; better off than most. Even then you will wonder if the specter of cancer and other afflictions are not still in your future. Always will you feel like they are just one visit to the Dr. and just one x-ray away from becoming the final injustice you will have to suffer in this life.
All for simply doing what you were supposed to that day… For being among the ones that one day were both lucky and unlucky enough to have survived a blinding flash and deafening roar all around you that so many others did not. And maybe you will never resolve why you lived and they did not; or why you should have – when so many others simply never had a choice or any idea what happened.
And there is so much more I am leaving out for the sake of brevity and compassion… It will be the change of a lifetime, and bring a life time of change there after. God willing and God forbid we never come to know…
Wow, and that’s a Christopher Walken ‘wow’, thanks for a great descriptive scenario.
For those who haven’t lived or even have lived in New York City David Macaulay’s book “Underground” (1976) gives a glimpse what is below street level in the borough of Manhattan.
While it would be difficult to add to vc’s scenario, SHTFSchool on uber steroids, geologically Manhattan is not a monolithic rock. There are fault lines. (One of Edgar Cayce’s predication involved a fault line along fourteen street.) Building a large building, ‘skyscaper’, is a balancing act of replacing the soil/rock weight evacuated for the foundation and sub-floors with the weight of the building to prevent the adjacent soil from upheaving into the sub-ground space. What happens when that balance is upset when and if buildings partially collapse? Any pile foundation would be further un-stabilized increasing the chances of a catastrophic collapse or making the building uninhabitable.
If the warp and weft of a city ‘s infrastructure is disturbed, how far does the city unravel? Subway lines may be shut down, water and electrical lines could be affected beyond the area destroyed. If a giant tampon were to be smuggled into the state and inserted into an upstate pump station line the city would be affected since New York City has, say, what, three days’ worth of supplies continually coming into it. Too ticklish too think about.
Of course, the effect to Upstate New York would be as if California had fell into the sea until Poughkeepsie is overrun with indigenous New Yorkers.
There’d be a lot less Democrats afterwards, that’s for sure. Just trying to look on the bright side like my momma always told me.
How quickly we forget. Actually the World Trade Center was ground zero. The 3rd tower was occupied 100% by moneychangers and government (yet curiously not one occupant died). Globalists think globally. NYC is just a place to Globalists who would sacrifice it in a heartbeat. Globalists want depopulation. Removing 8 million people would support that goal.
The level of evil we are facing is unfathomable. 9/11 woke me up. You can believe Washington or you can believe the hard evidence of over 3,000 Architect for Truth about 9/11.
Yes, NYC is seemingly the western capitol of the nwo, and filled with every kind of evil, but so are many other large cities where a sacrifice a day is the norm and no one bats an eye. Look at chitcago and its weekend murder sprees for a midwestern example of concentrated evil.
I feel that many if not most people of any liberal disposition will be attracted to larger cities, and thusly they will suffer disproportionately compared to the more rural conservative Americans who do not live in or near large cities. As we should all know by now, every large city is not just a nuclear target because of the population being concentrated and thus easy to kill, but because most of our manufacturing is in or near large cities – the enemies of our country would also be killing their most likely supporters while the patriots in the hinterland are left to resist an invasion.
On what constitutes a good target for nuclear planners, from what i remember it goes like this for Russian planners;
Seats of national government
Seats of state government
All cities over 25k population
All telco switching centers ie Omaha and Kansas City
All military bases/weapons depots (I doubt if small ng armories would rate a nuke)
All military industrial complex factories
All mil/advanced sciences research facilities
All power plants
Back in the 70s and into the 90s the Russians fielded enough warheads to just about cover that target list, dunno about today. We target them in a similar fashion. I suppose they’re much more conservative in their targeting. They also have something called red mercury, wich western media and governments said was a fabrication, but the father of the neutron bomb, Mr Cohen, said red mercury would work. As he knew more about nuclear material than me and many experts living today, I take what he said as gospel. Red mercury means something whose core is more or less the size of a baseball could level NYC. So as you can imagine, our enemies have likely already planted wmds into our country via a number of means. I heard some years ago about people from south of the border carrying wmds into the US for old Bin Ladin and once they delivered their cargo they were murdered to tie up loose ends. Expect these and newer, unheard of weapons to already be here.
Unless something breaks loose via some rogue jihad element that gets a suitcase nuke or some similar one off event with a lone actor going off, we should expect the following to take place immediately before the nukes detonate over our cities;
Attacks on national government facilities (white house, congress, etc) committed by “unknown terrorists”
Simultaneously with the above attack would be assassination attempts on political and military leadership
In the weeks prior to this you may hear in the news reports of unexplained underwater nuclear explosions in the north Atlantic, Barents, or at the pole. This would be submarines attacking each other.
The above scenario is based on what Russian Spetsnaz have been tasked with prior to a nuclear war. Spets are here among us, they might even be your neighbors. The spets also know where our leaders will flee to (as in small remote airports and military bases) to hide from nuclear war and will be waiting for them. Elimination of political and military leadership immediately prior to a nuclear attack is key to Russian nuclear war planning, they don’t want us to attack them before they attack us, so they use patsies to pull off the preliminary attacks so other non Russian entities take the blame.
This is the escalation model, there is another model the Russians refer to in their war planning texts. It’s based on “if you know your enemy has a gun and can kill you, don’t shoot him to injure him, shoot him to kill him” meaning there will not be an escalation of military responses from both sides leading to nuclear exchange, but immediate nuclear war. They call this escalate to deescalate. In other words, surprise nuclear war.
On the follow up invasion, Stanislav Lunev, GRU defektor to the US, said that Russian nukes and Chinese manpower was the plan. Once we have been neutralised militarily, the invasion can take place, Russia gets Alaska, Canada, and some of the eastern seaboard, China gets the west to the Rockies. Also in the mix will be multitudes of Mexican and south Americans who all feel we owe them something. Also add our multitude of islomic enemies like Iran, who has a military treaty with Russia. Ever watch one of those houthi rebels shoot an antitank missile at a saudi tank and blow it up? They don’t cry out death to saudi arabia, they cry our death to America, death to isreal. it’s not hard to imagine the multiple millions of jihadists who would volunteer to invade the US via Chinese transportation and Chinese and Russian weapons. I’d like to think of this all as right wing paranoia, but its all based on fact.
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For a good read on an EMP detonation, check out the book “One Second After” and the follow on, “One Year After” and “The Final Day”. A great read. If it happens, it will be the way described in that series. Otherwise, you could also watch “Sum of all Fears” movie.
The book is much, much better…
As an imaginative mental exercise only, there’s Tom Clancy and then there’s Nikola Tesla.
From http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread351060/pg1
Nikola Tesla revealed that an earthquake which drew police and ambulances to the region of his laboratory at 48 E. Houston St., New York, in 1898, was the result of a little machine he was experimenting with at the time which “you could put in your overcoat pocket.”
…
Some shrewd reporter asked Dr. Tesla at this point what he would need to destroy the Empire State Building and the doctor replied: “Vibration will do anything. It would only be necessary to step up the vibrations of the machine to fit the natural vibration of the building and the building would come crashing down. That’s why soldiers break step crossing a bridge.”
(not from Nikola Tesla’s Earthquake Machine
Dale Pond & Walter Baumgartner)
Also, from http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/15002/
“The fault lines shown on this map are mainly in Manhattan because the island’s exposed bedrock makes it most at risk for earthquake damage, explains Charles Merguerian, chairman of Hofstra University’s geology department, who drew them for us. Faults elsewhere in the city are harder to detect because they are buried under hundreds of feet of soil and sediment.”
New York City has maybe a three-day supply of basics if supply lines are disrupted,
From https://www.amny.com/lifestyle/how-nyc-gets-its-water-1.9205765
“Before it goes anywhere, the city’s drinking water starts out in three major watersheds — the Delaware and Catskill systems west of the Hudson River and the Croton system just north of the city. In 2017, New York City got about 97 percent of its water from the Catskill/Delaware systems and about 3 percent from the Croton system, the DEP said.”
There are probably more recent technologies that cede second generation warfare firepower.
Tesla also cured Mark Twain’s constipation. From http://www.thefactspeak.com/nikola-tesla-mark-twain-experiment/ paraphrased,
“The experiment didn’t bring any harm to the block but “shook the poop out” of a constipated Mark Twain” with his high-pitched frequency oscillator device.
Moral: Stock up on toilet paper if only for bartering. Then again, it might be hard to be the grey man if you don’t stink.
Speaking of Tesla… The Russians and Chinese may have mastered pair production, like I suspect Tesla did. Tesla is suspected of destroying the French warship Iena.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_battleship_I%C3%A9na
Armstrong (I think it was Armstrong, the accuser may have been another pioneer in radio who understood what was going on, read about this years ago and can’t recall everything) then publicly accused Tesla of using his equipment to cause a spark in the ship’s magazine, and Tesla responded in a newspaper that his machinery indeed could do exactly as Armstrong said it would.
Tesla was also accused of causing the Tunguska event, and if he did, that explains why there will never be found any debris from the supposed comet or asteroid or any other material, terrestrial or extraterrestrial.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event
Pair production is more or less the opposite of fission and fusion, where you force energy to become matter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pair_production
So in a sense, with a pair production weapon, it’s more or less a radio signal that can be aimed anywhere on earth and completely devastate a region, with no means to defend against it. This is some truly scary shit, but there are very few who have the brains and equipment to pull it off. They’d have to be Tesla level genius and have a national sponsor, hence why I say Russia, China, the US.
Absolutely nothing would happen because nuclear bombs are a hoax. Research it!
Be the horse that’s led to water but make sure you drink.
Research it? You mean take some graduate level college courses so you can become a nuclear engineer and understand that when too much fissionable material is in too small of a space that things go boom?
Or do you mean that we should search conspiracy websites that tell us that Lizard Men from the moon are using mind control satellites on us? Or that the Earth is a disc, but all the other planets are globular?
If you want to pretend that something doesn’t exist, that’s your prerogative. Personally I tend to believe reality and prep for various disasters that could ruin a lot of people’s day, so that my family can be as safe as possible during or after an event. But if you’d rather be an ostrich, have a blast. 😛