Survive Infinite Dangers: The Family Survival Guide of 21st Century Dangers (10 page)

It was a very elaborate ruse with Pakistani nuclear engineers sharing in the money by happening to be “available” to verify the bomb was real and would explode when activated. Money and “bomb” was exchanged. Whether the con men lived to tell the tale is another matter. But terrorists continue to offer ANY price for a working large scale nuclear bomb. By large scale I mean one that would destroy a large city and kill people from radiation within hundreds of miles. It would weigh several tons and have to be transported by truck unless a rogue country had ICBM technology that can accurately lift and deliver a bomb weighing 5,000 pounds, or more, over a distance of, say, 10,000 miles. Iran continues to work on such technology bit is still years away from this feat (in the mind of the author). They are doing this in partnership with North Korea and have had many spectacular failures of test firings. Currently, Israel DOES have working and accurate ICBM’s that can hit Iran. Will they decide to strike before Iran has the ability to respond?

Rather than repeat 50+ pages on all forms of radiation detection, protection and measurement I am mostly going to point you to
www.ki4u.com
. This great Web site has most everything you need to know and buy concerning all types of radiation from dirty bombs, nuclear bombs and all types of radioactive items. This includes radiation meters from thousands of dollars all the way down to one for about $25 that can also be made from scratch from plans on the Internet and the device as basic as it is – works! It provides very basic measurement of ambient radiation so you know when it is safe to come out of your SA or at least how long you can leave to perform some vital duty.

Currently, every person who lives within a certain number of miles of a nuclear power plant is issued a supply of Potassium Iodide (PI) by the government then the PI is replaced every few years. PI “floods” the thyroid so that nothing else can enter. The thyroid is 100 times more susceptible to nuclear radiation (leading to cancer) than any other part of the body. Do NOT take too much PI. That can also be dangerous. Refer to the referenced Web site for dosing instructions. Have your thyroid flooded with PI, be lucky enough to have avoided the direct blast (i.e. radiation burns, blindness, etc.) then spend a week or two in a lower level of a poor ventilation building with several levels (i.e. roof, floors) between you and the sky – cleanse your body if you were exposed to any radioactive fall out and the danger should pass in a few weeks to six weeks (to be sure). Metal (i.e. thin aluminum) Hazmat suits can be purchased fairly inexpensively. Remaining as covered as possible is good! Until you can reach your place of safety even an umbrella will shield you from some of the falling radiation or anthrax as simple as that sounds. As cheap as PI is there is no excuse for not having several bottles per person in storage for your family or group. It being a hard pill it stores for a long time if properly stored. Proper storage almost always means in a dark area (i.e. basement) sealed in an air-tight bag with the area somewhere between 50 and 65 degrees. Sunlight is your enemy with everything from stored water to medicines as sunlight GROWS THINGS!

If you happen to be at or near “Ground Zero” of a nuclear bomb blast there is no protection. It would leave a crater up to 500 feet deep and everything within miles would be vaporized. People who are, say, 10 miles away would be hit with strong radiation and probably all die within months or a few years. Those out to several hundred miles would suffer various fates depending on where they were when the explosion occurred and what they did during the first 72 hours? What do you do? Wear a mask that is at least N95. Take a shower brushing every inch of your body. Above all immediately begin taking Potassium Iodide (PI) tablets. These are cheap and can be found on hundreds of Web sites. Be careful not to buy fake pills. I buy Source Naturals brand (through Amazon). KI4U and Pro–KI are also good brands. With them you know you are getting the best. Thyroid cancer is 98% of all nuclear radiation deaths. Protect your thyroid and you’ll be fine (as long as you are away from the blast zone). Don’t forget children and pets! Read the Internet for recommended dosages for different sized people, children and pets. Nuclear radiation goes UP into the air then falls like unseen snow for several weeks. After a month if might be safe to venture outside. Just the roof of a house provides much protection. If you have a basement – stay there! Less than one percent of the radiation reaches the basement. Seal windows with aluminum foil and duct tape (two of the items you can never have enough of! I can’t stress enough (1) seek cover (2) cleanse yourself and begin taking PI pills immediately. People near the Chernobyl disaster in 1985 who did not take PI are today experiencing cancer deaths of one hundred times the norm. On the contrary, NATO (offering PI to Russia, The Ukraine, Poland and all countries “upwind”) were turned down by all but Poland. Polish people took the PI pills as a show of defiance to the old USSR. Defiance or not, today Poland has a cancer rate no higher than the world’s normal rate of cancer. As mentioned, people who live within a certain distance of United States nuclear power plants are given fresh supplies of PI every two years. This is not advertised but it is a fact. This policy was implemented after the Three-Mile Island mishap. The U.S. government (as they do with Cipro) keeps tens of millions of doses of PI tablets on hand for all of us but what if a bomb blast makes it impossible to reach the distribution center. Buy five or ten bottles and be assured you’ll be protected. It is cheap today but a day after a nuclear bomb blast I predict some would sell extra PI tablets for $5 a pill versus the pennies they cost today. Buy now – not later.

Basically, we’re all in luck on this one. As much as “the real thing” (nuclear bomb not the soft drink with that slogan) is used by the media and maybe by our government (you be the judge) to scare the pants off of us, a REAL and large nuclear bomb is VERY difficult to manufacture and even more difficult to keep stable and operational. Most experts agree the “dreaded” suitcase bombs that are supposedly still floating around the world from the old Soviet Union stolen during the chaos of the (temporary?) downfall of communism they carried little more explosive power than to blow up a fraction of a square mile have long since become duds and are now only useful for tricking arms dealers into parting with millions of dollars in an illegal arms transactions.

How do you know if what you bought as a “suitcase” bomb (named “suitcase” for its size) has been sold and resold many times? You would think some very wealthy terrorist group would “waste” a billion dollars by insisting the seller blow up one out of a dozen they might buy. I assume none have although there was a mysterious nuclear incident off the coast of South Africa some years ago. But it was later traced to (still a rumor) the Israelis testing their nuclear weaponry before Mr. Mandela was voted into office. The bomb worked so the Israelis really do have working nuclear weapons (if the rumor was correct).

Expert nuclear engineers with VERY expensive equipment are needed to keep these U.S.S.R. weapons in operating condition which is a highly unlikely scenario. This doesn’t keep former U.S.S.R. engineers from selling their “services” to terrorist groups to “maintain” the very old nuclear weapons the terrorists bought and supposedly (according to rumor) even have a few located within our borders. The author can authenticate the “sensitivity” of nuclear weapons from his employment in the nuclear weapons industry. After so many years (not many) and not maintained virtually every day they stand as much chance of blowing up as that 1936 Ford starting that is parked behind your garage your spouse never misses a week demanding to know “what year are you going to start restoring that hunk of junk?” So the former U.S.S.R. “nuclear engineers” (many were junior technicians or not even technicians but they have a badge in Russian that says “nuclear” so they collect $200,000 from terrorists each month to act like they are “maintaining” that equivalent of an hunk of junk 1936 Ford. On the other hand, the estimate of the total number of nuclear weapons in the world is 23,335 (who took THAT count!). It only takes ONE to ruin the day of millions of people. “Nuclear” anything remains a real threat as country after country race to join the “club” of having nuclear weapons in their arsenal so this is NOT a “past tense” danger. “Experts” (exactly who are these mysterious “experts”?) claim the chances of at least one nuclear blast occurring in a densely packed urban area within the next twenty years to be 100%. So definitely prepare for nuclear radiation. Fortunately, the danger and longevity of nuclear radiation is vastly overblown by our wonderful bunch of scare mongers in Hollywood and Washington D.C. Unless you are in the damage zone, follow the instructions in this book buying and using all the equipment specified and stay upwind from nuclear clouds and you’ll be fine. Your life will be forever changed and survival in future years may be almost impossible but, near-term, you’ll be fine.

Unless you are in the actual blast area where buildings are damaged and people hurt or killed, your concern for some time will be radiation fall out. By the time it hits the ground it has already begun to decay (spent radiation). Still, depending upon the type of radiation, it can range from very dangerous and long-lasting to not dangerous and no longer harmless after a relatively short period of time. I encourage you to go to the page on “nuclear fallout” on the Wikipedia Web site and print it out for reading and reference. It may not be needed or may become invaluable. That’s the way information is!

Also, depending on how serious you wish to treat radiation beyond PI tablets, physical precautions, cleanliness and N95 masks you may wish to purchase anything from full Geiger counters to radiation monitor cards (they turn colors indicating how much radiation they’ve been exposed to – not accurate like a Geiger counter but also much less expensive. There are always a large number of circa 1955 vintage Civil Defense detectors for sale on eBay and several on-line stores. The government bought millions of these back then and, today, are selling them as junk in surplus auctions. You’ll read the words “untested” on almost all of them. That means they don’t work and are junk. The buyers of these auction lots may find one in 50 that works and then prices it accordingly. There are now new technology radiation detectors and monitors that are good value for the prices charged. But the prices are still not cheap so invest in such equipment if you wish. Perhaps if your group is a member of several nearby other groups you can go together to buy equipment. Radiation at your house is going to be the same level as at the next safe area of a friend two blocks away you communicate with using a walkie-talkie radio. In fact, there are a number of more expensive items groups may want to consider buying together. Google the term “Geiger counter” and start from there. But I would encourage you to buy new and not waste your money on Civil Defense cast offs from 1955.

There are many things to consider when it comes to radiation. Once it enters the food chain you are vulnerable to it no matter how well you’ve protected your thyroid. That goes for eating plants (you’ve been able to grow some of your own food or you found a great patch of wild berries that are safe to eat - or maybe not. If you munch on a radioactive carrot you grew yourself or some wild berries you found you may die from radiation poisoning anywhere from one month to 30 years later. The same “food chain” problem affects animals too. Today, animals who have wandered into the Chernobyl area written about earlier are quite safe and the new plant life is as well. Not so the animals of ten to 20 years ago. “Harvest” wild animals such as rabbits, squirrels, deer and the like knowing you are probably ingesting a lot of radiation. The effects may be slow so, if you are elderly, old age will probably take your life before radiation-laden deer meat does. Otherwise, pass up that great looking “fresh venison” at the barter area (assuming things have calmed down enough that basic civilization has returned to a limited extent). Guard your own food reserves and try to eat and drink only from what you put there in preparation.

On the other hand, other unsubstantiated rumors say more than a dozen of these “suitcase bombs” have been smuggled into the United States and are “strategically” placed around our country in major cities for use in high stakes blackmail or extortion. Even the nuclear arsenal of the former U.S.S.R. (most still in place and still pointed at us) are said to be unstable as well as their remaining nuclear power facilities. The United States has been paying Russia to disassemble nuclear weapons and missiles under the supervision of American nuclear engineers but (once again, just a rumor) it’s been said the Russians have had United States engineers disassemble bombs known to already be non-functioning. At the same time terrorists offer to double any offer the United States makes. Probably the number one danger currently is Pakistan. Due to the treasonous act of one Dr. Khan, let off with a warning he has so much political power!, North Korea and Iran both acquired nuclear technology along with (maybe) Saudi Arabia and several other Middle East countries. Pakistan has nuclear weapons that do work, are stable and can be delivered to India. That would cause India to respond in kind with nuclear weapons. If a nuclear war does occur in the next five years it will probably be between Pakistan and India still fighting after all these years over lands both claim that India seems to have the legal upper hand with but Pakistan the military presence. Both sides are on their DMZ border ready to launch ICBM nuclear tipped missiles in a matter of minutes. IF this ever happens (probably due to the Taliban taking over Pakistan) expect Israel, Iran and several other countries to become involved within minutes.

Iran probably wishes these differences would just stop. Iran is too busy with a smoke screen of developing a nuclear bomb and an ICBM capable of reaching the United States when (the author believes) they are ACTUALLY developing EMP technology at a rapid pace. Keep in mind EMP technology was first developed by Nickola Tesla in 1898! So it is SIMPLE to build and it works almost every time it is tried. There are rumors of Arab test labs in remote areas of the Mexican desert south of Arizona. The United States has made formal requests these sites be visited by the Mexican army (based on satellite photos) but the Mexicans won’t even respond. Are Arabs bribing Mexican officials to place laboratories for EMP and maybe anthrax south of San Diego and south of Arizona? Photos WERE on the Internet. Including one that supposedly showed an anthrax lab with a crop duster plane on a grass runway but about 40 bodies of Arabs (?) scattered about perhaps having succumbed to the anthrax before being able to spray San Diego. It appears both suspicious and unsettling.