Nuclear weapons — they’ve ended a world war and have so far prevented another major global conflict from breaking out.

But with the recent changes in the world, things don’t seem as stable as they use to be…

This leaves us all wondering:

What happens if everything escalates into a full-blown nuclear war?

Being optimistic and considering the case that humanity doesn’t become fully extinct, here are a few things that will still definitely happen:

1. Cities, towns and any urban areas containing infrastructure will be completely demolished and rendered uninhabitable.
2. Food will become a scarce resource and immediate rationing will start to take place.
3. Global temperatures may drop as much as 10°C (or 18℉) due to a nuclear winter.
4. Disease will spread like wildfire.
5. All major communications channels will cease to exist — yes, we may HAVE TO resort back to speaking to people face to face (I know…scary stuff).

Let’s talk about each one in detail.

Mass destruction of infrastructure

If you studied any history at all, you might have a basic understanding of what it’s like directly after a nuclear explosion.

Back when the first nuclear weapon was detonated on August 6th 1945 in Hiroshima, Japan, everything in a 1-mile radius of the blast was completely obliterated and all living organisms were vaporised instantly.

Heavy damage was sustained up to a range of 3-miles and the shattering of windows and glass extended up to 12 miles.

By today’s standards though, this is NOTHING.

The bomb dropped on Hiroshima called “Little Boy” only has an explosive force equivalent to 15 kilotons of TNT (that’s 15,000 tons), while the average nuclear bomb today has at least 100 kilotons (100,000 tons)!

That’s literally a 20-mile radius of pure ANNIHILATION!

Houses, offices, schools, factories and power plants will all disappear in a millisecond.

A bright flash, and BOOM — everything ceases to exist.

Food shortages

Even on a normal day, food from the fridge already disappear faster than I’d like, so in the case of a nuclear war, I’m definitely fucked.

For everyone else though, eating the same kind of food day in and day out will soon start to become the norm.

Firstly, any fresh foods like vegetables and fruits will run out relatively quickly (within the first few weeks), and those that aren’t consumed will expire and rot away.

Still, there will be some resilient natural foods such as potatoes that you will want to keep since they can grow in almost any condition provided there is light and water.

Since all modern infrastructure will be demolished and the soil outside will be contaminated from nuclear fallout (radioactive particles from the bomb falling back down), diesel generators and solar panels are going to be needed to sustain indoor lighting in order for anything to grow properly.

Other than that, the only food you’d likely have to resort to is SPAM and other canned food.

On its own, anything canned will last indefinitely provided that the container is kept in good shape and in the case of a nuclear apocalypse, the average supermarket has enough tinned food to last a single person around 50 years.

Other sorts of foods you are gonna want to stock up are things like honey, jam, uncooked white rice (lasts about 30 years), dried beans, non-fat powdered milk, coffee and candy.

To make your living situation more interesting and fun, you might wanna chuck in some rum and tequila into the mix as well!

Alcohol by itself will last indefinitely so long as it’s not contaminated. There was even a guy who drank a bottle of wine that was found in an Egyptian tomb and said that it still tasted just fine!

As for fluids to keep you hydrated, bottled water is a must.

In storage, bottled water can last indefinitely but since water purification plants are going to be destroyed and tap water will no longer be accessible, it might also be a good idea to move near a stream or waterfall to get access to fresh water.

To stay on the safe side though, you’d still want to boil the water you find in the wild before drinking it to kill off any parasites or bacteria that may be present.

Any water purification tablets and potassium-iodide you have on hand will come in very useful too.

Nuclear winter

Following the initial explosion of the bombs, shockwaves will be sent towards the ground destroying everything, hurtling thousands of tons of dirt and dust up into the atmosphere.

A lot of it will be highly radioactive and over the course of the following days and weeks, this plume of debris and smoke will follow the direction of the wind and travel hundreds or even thousands of miles across the country.

Usually, nuclear fallouts will last around 3 to 5 weeks since that’s the time fallout radiation takes to decay to a safe enough level for travelling to be possible.

Before that though, it’d be a very good idea to remain deep underground in bunkers unless you fancy having multiple tumours growing all over your body.

In the days following the detonation, fires from burning fields and forests will inject vast quantities of soot into the air, slowly turning the atmosphere grey and foggy.

Clouds of nuclear ash will cover the sky, blocking out the majority of the sun’s rays.

Without the sun keeping us warm, heat will escape very quickly from the land and oceans.

At first, it won’t seem that bad.

I mean, it won’t feel that much different to a normal winter season but, as the months go past, that’s when the effects really start becoming more prominent.

The surviving trees, shrubs and bushes will lose their leaves due to a lack of sunlight and all the other plants will start to wither and die out as well.

Wild animals will decrease in population due to the lack of food (that’s if they haven’t died already from radiation poisoning), and the cooling of the earth will worsen the impact of ocean acidification on corals, clams, oysters and other marine life with shells or skeletons.

Farming will be impossible, and energy collection from solar panels will also become limited.

On the days that there does happen to be sunlight peeking through the clouds, it would actually be lethal to venture outside.

That’s because nuclear detonations release tons of nitrogen dioxide into the air that ultimately destroy the ozone layer meaning there would be little protection from the sun’s harmful UV rays.

Unless you slather up in multiple layers of sunscreen, stepping out for too long will result in severe sunburns and even skin cancer.

Your eyes will be especially vulnerable to that intense UV radiation so it’d be vital to wear goggles with strong UV filters in order to keep yourself from going blind.

How long will it all last?

We have absolutely no idea.

Theoretically, a nuclear winter could last from a few years to as long as a few centuries depending on the severity.

There is no way for us to accurately predict the aftermath of a nuclear disaster before it happens.

…And after it happens? Well, that’d be too late.

Disease outbreak

For the large majority of people who aren’t properly prepared for the disaster and haven’t stocked up enough food and safety supplies, things like water contamination, infections, food poisoning, vitamin deficit will lead to a huge wave of various diseases spreading across cities and nations.

Especially since people will likely want to gather together and form large groups to increase their survivability odds, one single person with even a mildly contagious disease could put everyone in danger.

To prevent diseases from becoming one more devastating problem you’d have to face in the event of a nuclear war, it’s crucial to stock up on emergency medical supplies as well.

Here are some of the most essential items and medications you’d want to get your hands on before all the pharmacies and drug stores get raided:

• Antibiotics (Amoxicillin, Azithromycin, Ciprofloxacin, Doxycycline, Metronidazole)
• Antiseptic wipes
• Rubbing alcohol
• Tweezers
• Suture threads
• Suture needles
• Suture threads (both absorbable and non-absorbable)
• Precision scissors
• Sterile bandages
• Plasters
• Medical glue (you can use hardware superglue in a pinch since the main chemical is the same, but it’s more likely going to cause irritation and induce other problems)
• Mild painkillers (Paracetamol, Ibuprofen)
• Strong painkillers (Morphine, Oxycodone, Fentanyl) — Be careful with these
• Antihistamines
• Aspirin
• Laxatives
• Loperamide (for diarrhoea control) — You don’t want to become dehydrated from pooping too much
• Pseudoephedrine (for stuffy noses and flu and cold-like symptoms)
• Hydrocortisone Cream (for rashes, inflamed skin, poison ivy and other skin irritations)
• Potassium Iodide (helps block radioactive iodine from being absorbed by the thyroid gland)

If you have the option of choosing who you bunker up together with, be sure to pick a doctor or at least someone with decent medical experience.

In the case where that’s not possible, here are a few basic emergency medical procedures you’d want to learn just in case:

• CPR (everyone should know how to do this and if you don’t, it only takes a few minutes of watching YouTube videos to learn this)
• Treating burns and scalds
• Treating cuts and bruises
• Abdominal thrusts (helping someone who is choking)
• Suturing and stitching a wound
• Setting a splint (For stabilizing a broken bone)

Establishing communications

In the absolute worst-case scenario, the power grid will shut down, and all but a few forms of digital communication will be left.

There’d be no WiFi that’s for sure and the entire internet itself would cease to exist.

Satellites and GPS will quickly lose accuracy and stop functioning too as they require a ground station to keep them up and running.

They won’t be falling out of the sky or anything like that since they are designed to stay in orbit for a number of years, but it’ll just mean that they’ll become nothing more than big bits of space junk.

As for landlines and telephones, those services will halt to a stop as soon as their backup generators run out of power.

The only form of communication we’d have left is HAM radios which are self-contained radios that can transmit over a wide range of frequencies and reach all across the globe.

The problem is that not everybody owns one of these.

By themselves, HAM radios powerful enough to communicate globally tend to cost upwards of a few thousand dollars and in order to use one, you’d need to get a license as well (not that it would matter in a nuclear apocalypse).

Apart from the high set-up price, HAM radios also need large amounts of power in order to transmit signals for long distances.

I did talk about using diesel generators and solar panels as a source of electrical power, but these options aren’t likely going to be sustainable since diesel is limited in quantity and the sun isn’t going to be providing much power if it’s covered by soot cloud and nuclear debris in the atmosphere.

The best forms of power generation in the event of a nuclear winter would be hydroelectric and wind.

For hydroelectric, it is entirely possible to manufacture a DIY turbine using an alternator from a car and some scrap metal parts.

For wind power, there are already dozens of companies out there producing home wind turbines that can be affixed to roofs of residential houses and provide enough power to sustain most households.

The last option is geothermal energy if you live near volcanoes or hot springs. However, this won’t be as easy to install as there’s a lot of specialist equipment involved so chances are if you don’t already have a geothermal generator installed near where you live, you won’t be able to tap into that energy source.

Whatever option you choose, electrical power will be one of the first things you’ll want to sort out once you’ve found a place to bunker and settle down in.

With it, you’ll not only be able to power basic appliances like lights, kettles, cookers, ovens and fridges which keep you alive, but it will also power the heater that keeps you warm and other essential technologies that will aid you in rebuilding civilization.

Final thoughts

Obviously, this single article alone doesn’t cover everything you’d need to know to survive a nuclear war, but frankly, until it happens, we’ll can never truly know what the experience will be like.

We can only pray and put our trust in our political leaders and hope that they have enough common sense to not fuck things up for the rest of us.

In the event that nuclear war does occur though, at least now you’ll have a basic understanding of what to look out for and how to prepare.

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