Would you even want to survive a nuclear fallout?

[Whose]

Seeing loads of threads about bunkers and prepping etc etc

I have a friend who talks about this a lot and is deeply unimpressed with my stance of "honestly, I wouldn't want to survive the apocalypse anyway".

I like good cheese, and chocolate, I like wasting time on the Internet and going on holiday. I like hot showers.
The apocalypse sounds like it sucks. I haven't the first clue how to season a rat roasted on a stick, and cockroaches scare me. Camping is shit.

AIBU to think that in the case of a nuclear fallout, just instantly being wiped out sounds like the far nicer option?

Oh God no. I've never been of the 'life at any cost' persuasion anyway and a nuclear strike is certainly not something I would want to live through. I'm not afraid of death. I've been clinically dead before. Didn't know a thing about it until afterwards. Dying of radiation sickness is an absolute no from me.

We read Z for Zachariah at school. I’ll pick instant wipe out please.

Depends.
In the immediate aftermath of a bomb striking close enough to affect you (but far enough to survive) you would have no way of knowing what had happened elsewhere.

For all you know, that was the only one. Which would be a horrendous war crime, but not global destruction.
I would want to survive that.

Everyone letting off all their nukes at each other? I don't think I'd want to live in the aftermath of that even if I survived that long.
But how would you know the difference?
Communication and power would be out.
At first you would have no clear idea of whether it was a (relatively) small nuke nearby, or a larger one further away.

So I'd do my utmost to ensure my families survival in the short term, whilst also trying to minimise exposure that would cause long term health issues.

In the absence of information, I would work on the assumption that what we were going through was survivable.

Rage, Rage against the dying of the light etc etc.

Is it something I'd choose? No. Would I fight to survive if I had to? Absolutely.

I've lived through a lot of shit the last few years. Still here and surviving. I'm not going to quit out just because life isn't comfortable any more and I certainly don't have the right to hit the quit button for my kids.

Our closest 'target' is 30 miles away. Depending on the size of the weapon, we could feasibly survive (providing no damage to windows/ walls) the fallout which, after about 2 weeks, reduces to 1%. I wouldn't want to survive if the rest of the country/ world was annihilated, mind. Of course in that scenario I'd want to be directly under it!

Within 10 miles of central London so would hopefully be vaporised, which IMO would be the least worst option.

I'd want to be hear for my kids and DH if they are alive, but I'd hope we all went at once. One DC is several hundred miles away which is my biggest fear.

I would if I thought I could save the children. Instinct. DP just wants to be gone in first blast
As we live about 5 mins from a major target I am not sure we would have any choice anyway.

I’d want us all to be wiped out. The idea that the kids would watch us die or vice versa is unbearable.

No thanks, I'd rather die instantly (with my kids and DH).
See also- Zombie apocalypse.

No. Discussed this with my pupils when they believed Saddam might have nuclear weapons, and all agreed we'd place ourselves at the most likely targets, to ensure instant annihilation.

... extrapolating from this thread, I get the impression that even a tactical nuke could cause as much death as a big one!
One strike and everyone within hearing distance assumes the worst and takes matters into their own hands. Pessimists.

Who knows how we'd react in a situation we have never experienced?

My instinctive response is : Fuck, no, I moan enough if I have a boil in a painful spot and I'm a bit skint because it's January, so maybe I'm a bit short on the kind of resilience I'd need to draw upon. And once I'm out of painkillers I'll be fuck all use to myself or anyone else.

This is depressing af, and also what good does it do? You don’t get a choice whether you survive or not.

Yes but you can’t choose to be vaporised. It may be preferable but not what would happen to most. Most likely scenario would be trying to survive in nuclear fallout.

It does depend on the situation. The idea of surviving but having no access to basic human rights, food, water, healthcare, education…what sort of life is that?

Does anyone else just feel so overwhelmed. After everything the last couple of years how is this life now. I feel like I’m just on the edge of a panic attack all the time.

I need to turn off the news but I can’t. This amazing journalist basically pleaded with Boris Johnson earlier for help. Asked him how he would feel crossing a border with a baby in his arms. Very emotional and powerful.

I'm curious as to why people believe you instantly succumb should a bomb fall. In the immediate blast radius you would, but it's usual to survive outside the radius, depending upon how large the bomb has been. The majority of the population would survive, albeit with injuries and then the subsequent radiation sickness of course. Then, we'd have to deal with infrastructure collapse and riots etc.

You don't just pop outside and get instantly vaporised and know nothing about it.

People need to investigate whether they live near a possible target and, if they don't, get their heads around what they would do if they survived. Even if you're not interested in medium to long term survival, you would be possibly faced with a few weeks of life.

@EmbarrassingHadrosaurus

In the event of such catastrophes, there are distinct gradients of effect and it feels unwise to consider only the most dramatic and drastic scenarios.

Love this!

Yes, I would want to survive. I'm not convinced that ALL deployments of nuclear weapons would lead to an all-out Armageddon situation. It all depends on whether a limited nuclear exchange is possible or if it would inevitably escalate to something world-ending. Who knows what the answer to that is, hopefully we never find out. I'm an eternal optimist, but I wouldn't be driving towards the epicentre unless I 100% knew it was an Armageddon situation.

@Gardeningcreature

All those saying how do you know what it would be like clearly are too young to have lived through the Cold War and before. Everyone was constantly under the threat of some maniac launching a nuclear war. We spoke about it at school, we watched videos on how to protect yourself if a nuclear war broke out. We saw images of desolation and pictures of how you would die painfully and slowly afterwards. I read Z for Zackaria. Lots of our teachers were CND supporters.

I was a child in the 80s and wasn't really told anything about this. I was aware of CND as an older child, but never lived in fear of a nuclear war.

I was a child in the 80s and wasn't really told anything about this. I was aware of CND as an older child, but never lived in fear of a nuclear war.

Same.

I think I need to buy a big bar of chocolate (which gives me headaches) ready to eat just in case.

Why in the 90’s were we all watching threads at school and reading Z for Zacharia? I’d not let my 13 year old near that panic attack inducing stuff now.

Nope. No way.

I'd try and survive for my son, but I'd try and change location to somewhere up else.