Talk of nuclear war has been on the cards for a long time now, but with looming conflicts, wondering how you’d fare is only natural.
If you think (like most of us do) that you’d survive a nuke close to your city...then you might want to read on.
Well, you could, but it might not be a great way to live when you’re faced with the aftermath and the injuries you might have.
As you may know, there are blast zones that have varying degrees of destruction when it comes to nukes.
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Zones 1-6 will bring some sort of damage, and you might be shocked at the distances it takes to fully kill a person.
A YouTube simulation has gone into detail about all of the zones, and I’m going to lay it all out so you don’t have to get freaked out watching it.
Well, you can if you like that sort of feeling.
Let’s start with Zone 1, the furthest zone from the blast, at 3.27 km away from the impact.
At this point, Atomic Marvel said this would cause ‘light blast damage’ consisting of permanent blindness and burned retinas, thermal radiation pulse (2nd degree burns), and temporary or permanent hearing loss.
Now, Zone 2 is where it gets scary.
Only being 1.27 km from the blast, you’ll get ‘moderate’ damage which could leave you with third degree burns, eardrum ruptures and a concussion.
From here on out, it’s bye bye.
Zone 3 is 600m from the blast, and quite simply, you’re not going to survive this.
Here's what’s in store:
- 4th degree burns
- Traumatic brain injury
- Collapsed lungs and bronchi Arterial gas embolism
- Pulmonary contusion
- Haemoptysis
- Haemothorax
- Gastrointestinal haemorrhage/ perforation/ Retroperitoneal haemorrhage
Do you still want to know about Zone 4?
You sure? Okay.
Zone 4 will see you sitting between 200 and 350m away from the impact, and you should get ready to simply close your eyes and accept your fate.
If you find yourself in this unfortunate zone, expect to be utterly incinerated.
The same can be said at Zone 5 and Zone 6, too.
Now, if you want to know where you could potentially escape the possibility of dying via a nuke or the radiation fallout, there are two places in the world you could go.
Annie Jacobsen, a Pulitzer Prize finalist and serial novelist, revealed the locations on a 2024 episode of Steven Bartlett’s The Diary Of A CEO podcast.
Jacobsen was asked whether or not anywhere is safe on Earth in the event of a nuclear war taking over the globe.
To this, she said: “There’s one tiny little place in New Zealand and a little bit of Australia. And that has to do with if you follow the idea of nuclear war, that agriculture fails when we have a nuclear winter and the sun gets blocked out.
“When you have all the billions of people dying, its because agriculture fails. It is said by those who study this that there are some areas in Australia and New Zealand which would remain viable.
“But you’re talking about, kind of hunter-gatherer type people.”
Britt Jones