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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask how long it will take to die if we do get nuked

383 replies

MagicalRealist · 29/08/2017 14:15

Just this really. How quick? I know the warning, if there is one, will only be a few minutes so nowhere near enough time to get to school and be with DC. But when the bombs hit, is it just a flash of light and then oblivion? Or a longer scarier process? Obviously I hope none of this will actually happen.

OP posts:
chelseahotel · 29/08/2017 16:47

I was a teen in the 70s and we were certain WWIII was going to wipe us out.

Seriously.

Protect and Survive. The government sent out leaflets telling us to hide under a table in the event of a nuclear war.
I was never going to have children because the world was doomed. That's genuinely one reason I waited until I was in my mid 30s to have children.

MagicalRealist · 29/08/2017 16:49

chelsea I kind of wish I'd had the strength not to. Not even because of this so much but global warming Confused

OP posts:
makeourfuture · 29/08/2017 16:50

NYconcrete - its amazing what hunger and desperation do. The couple across the road will cheerfully clip YOU. There's no need to worry about the dog as it will be eaten before it gets to you.. the baseball and golf club wielding individuals will have you offering up the last of your baked beans pretty quickly though

Well yes. Food will be the problem so quickly. Water too. Treatment operations will fail pretty quickly. Cholera.

But it just will not take long for people to begin to target others. Baseball bats with nails....short chains.

ShoesHaveSouls · 29/08/2017 16:51

I rather liked Lord Buckethead's manifesto on Trident.

"Cancel Trident, but don't let on to anyone that we're not updating it" Wink

InvisibleKittenAttack · 29/08/2017 16:51

I remember reading something a few years ago when there was stuff going around Facebook etc mocking the 70s advice of what to do in the event of a nuclear attack, and one big was if you were caught outdoors, lie down in a ditch. Much hilarity at the idea that would help. Then boring proper scientists joined in saying that the "everyone dies" idea was mainly scaremongering by by the anti nukes lobby.

Most plans in 70/80s assumed that London would be hit as well as any location where we kept our bombs, but large parts of the uk would be fine if you stayed indoors and avoided eating/drinking contaminated food/water.

Head to the preppers board, they'll have you ordering bottled water and tinned food. Wink

Fightthebear · 29/08/2017 16:52

We're all going to die, although most of us live in cheery denial. You could see this as a reminder to concentrate on making the most of the time you have op.

Apart from that, can I join the superpower hamster colony in the event of a strike please?

MagicalRealist · 29/08/2017 16:54

Oh I do, Fightthebear. I am :) Totally agree with you. I just get scared as well. Can't help it.

OP posts:
AnnieAnoniMouse · 29/08/2017 16:56

MagicalRealist. Try not to worry, it's not going to happen. It's a bunch of boys willy waggling, their 'Dads' will step in before it gets that far. Truly.

The thread title is very clear what it's about, do stop whinging & telling people to stop discussing it.

HerRoyalFattyness · 29/08/2017 16:56

I want to be a superhamster too!

Elendon · 29/08/2017 17:03

Ruggerhug

Howling at that video. What to do in the event of a nuclear fallout? Have a fag!

Obviously vaping wasn't in the mix at this time!

LurkingHusband · 29/08/2017 17:03

The problem with cannibalism is that it will just concentrate the radioactive material inside you thus accelerating your own radiation poisoning.

That said, start with the liver Smile

alltouchedout · 29/08/2017 17:04

Dying in the blast doesn't worry me- to be honest as others have said, if nuclear war does happen, I want us to die in the blast. That would be the best case scenario (and according to nukemap could be very possible, I live close enough to the centre of Manchester that if a big enough nuclear weapon was targeted at the city when we were at home, we almost certainly wouldn't survive the initial blast). It's the other scenarios that really make me afraid- imagine an EMP blast and what that would mean for society, imagine how just knowing that a nuke had been fired somewhere on the planet would affect people and how people would behave as a result, imagine all blasts had taken place on the other side of the world but we all knew nuclear winter was on the way, etc etc etc.
I think 'everyone dies' is a pretty valid prediction, because people will not react by staying calm and following advice if something kicks off. It doesn't have to be the blast or the fallout that kills you. The likely riots and panic and breakdown of society are potentially far, far more dangerous and definitely as frightening.

Elendon · 29/08/2017 17:04

I have a well insulated basement. Am I all right? (about 30 miles south of Manchester).

BeyondLimitsAndWhatever · 29/08/2017 17:12

EMP killing my music, TV and Internet would be enough to contemplate suicide, before I even think about thermal burns or radiation poisoning...!!

BeyondLimitsAndWhatever · 29/08/2017 17:13

Plus who realistically has a gallon of water per person, per day, in storage, to last even the two weeks of initial fallout?

Elendon · 29/08/2017 17:18

I think the problem would be for those who are not within the blast area. Whats the point otherwise. You would be really pissed off if you survived.

UnderCrackers5 · 29/08/2017 17:19

Us Hamsters can drink their own urine. And BeyondLimits, I like you so much, you can have mineSmile

BR62Y · 29/08/2017 17:21

There wouldn't just be one Nuke per big city. More like 5/6 over London and a couple over each big city. There would be parts of Norfolk, Devon and Cornwall and rural areas where you could probably go out your business for another couple of days if you had enough food and bottled water.

Chaos within days, illness, starvation and dehydration.

Preppers and those who live in the tip of Scotland would probably still be here after a week or so.

I guess it wouldn't be a great deal of fun and your joy at surviving the blast would soon become a nightmare!

It won't happen though. Too much money in the world now.

NYConcreteJungle · 29/08/2017 17:24

I don't understand why people think we would be bombed in the UK. Is this anything to do with the cloud on the south coast? Confused

EngTech · 29/08/2017 17:28

There was a drama documentary a while back, Threads, showed what could happen. Very thought provoking

Far better than the American version, The day after.

Even if people did survive, what they took for granted would not exist I.e. Water, electricity supplies, food logistics to supermarkets.

No internet !!!!

I don't worry about sabre rattling from POTUS or Kim, I can't change anything, so put it out of my mind and carry on.

NameChanger22 · 29/08/2017 17:37

We live 15 minutes from an underground bunker. We might be ok.

I'm pretty sure I'd do anything possible to survive, including eating meat again after 35 years as a vegetarian.

LuLuuuuuuu · 29/08/2017 17:39

No problem OP re link .

If its any comfort to you at all, back in the 80s we had all this ,as PPs have mentioned . We had the whole lot including tv adverts (which I saw linked early in the thread), leaflets through the letterbox and a ton of let's scare the life out of LuLuuuuu and her peer group films, documentaries and so on .

None of that has happened yet and that's a good thing

barbsbarbs · 29/08/2017 17:40

this thread has literally scared me and others to death. please stop!!!!

Goingtobeawesome · 29/08/2017 17:40

WTF?!?!

BeyondLimitsAndWhatever · 29/08/2017 17:41

On the other hand, threads like this help with my (and others) anxiety. I say this in the nicest way barbs, but perhaps you should hide the thread?