October 18, 2007
A look at strike capabilities worldwide, and how a bomb would affect single cities and people
From Scientific American:
Nine countries could kill many people on a moment’s notice by launching missiles carrying nuclear warheads. A 10th, Iran, may be weaponizing uranium. The U.S., Russia and China can bomb virtually any country with long-range ballistic missiles and, along with France and the U.K., could do the same using submarines. The effects of even one bomb could far exceed the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
“People came fleeing.... One after another they were almost unrecognizable.
The skin ... was hanging from their hands and from their chins; their faces were red and so swollen that you could hardly tell where their eyes and mouths were.”
—Hiroshima survivor in The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes“I have been hospitalized 10 times by radiation diseases, three times ... my family called to my bedside. I have to admit I am getting bored with death.”
—Hiroshima survivor Sanao Tsuboi, quoted by Torcuil Crichton in “Hiroshima: The Legacy,” U.K. Sunday Herald; July 31, 2005
More here.
Posted by Azra Raza at 06:39 AM | Permalink
Comments
Here's an interesting documentary from 1982 on the effects a nuclear bomb dropped on London would have on people at varying distances from the explosion:
part 1
part 2
part 3
Posted by: Jesse M. | Oct 18, 2007 10:37:55 PM
Jesse, thanks. This is strong stuff, and I hope people will make themselves watch it.
I was a grown-up in 1982, and remember well those years when the anti-nukes were gaining ground by keeping the horrors of nuclear war front and center. We cannot be reminded too often that while the Cold War is over, the nuclear threat is diversifying and increasing.
Posted by: Elatia Harris | Oct 19, 2007 11:42:27 AM
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