POST-NUCLEAR SURVIVAL AND RECOVERY MANUAL

Version: 1.0 Researched and compiled: 11 September 2026 Language: English (translated from the Russian original) Format: a single self-contained Markdown file, suitable for printing and offline reading Document type: a technical reference, not a work of fiction

SCOPE OF APPLICABILITY

This document is written for:

• an adult with no specialist training (not a physician, not a physicist, not an engineer);
• a large-scale nuclear war with multiple surface and air bursts;
• the absence of the internet, mobile networks, and centralised power and water supply;
• the absence, or only fragmentary functioning, of government structures;
• a person living in an ordinary flat or house, with no private bunker;
• two states of the world: "the catastrophe has not happened yet" and "the catastrophe has already happened".

The document covers a horizon from the first 10 seconds out to 5 years.

LIMITATIONS (READ THIS BEFORE YOU TRUST THIS TEXT)

1. This is not a substitute for professional help. As long as physicians, rescue services and civil-defence authorities exist, their instructions take priority over this document.
2. The numbers depend on the scenario. Yield, burst height, weather, wind, soil type and building type change the outcome by orders of magnitude. Every number here is a reference point, not a guarantee.
3. Geographical bias. Most of the verifiable primary sources are American (FEMA, CDC, EPA, FDA, USDA) and international (WHO, IAEA, ICRP, Sphere). Warning systems, emergency broadcast frequencies, the availability of potassium iodide, the contents of first-aid kits and the rules for storing medicines differ from country to country. Where advice is tied to a specific country, this is flagged.
4. Dosimetry. This document does not make you a radiation-protection specialist. It gives you the minimum needed to avoid making a fatally wrong decision.
5. Medicine. This document does not teach surgery, anaesthesia or drug synthesis. Attempts at complex surgery without training kill more often than they save.
6. Legal and ethical questions (property, use of force) are not resolved here. Only the consequences for survival are stated.
7. The author is a language model. The document was assembled from open sources and cross-checked against the list at the end. Errors are possible. Where the data are disputed, a confidence level and a range are given.
8. Prohibited content. This document deliberately does not contain instructions for making explosives, mines, lethal traps, ammunition, chemical or biological weapons, or for synthesising drugs.

HOW TO USE THIS DOCUMENT

Notation used in the text:

• ⛔ — a lethally dangerous action, never do it;
• ⚠️ — a risk that requires judgement;
• ✅ — a verified safe action;
• Confidence: high / medium / low — how reliably the statement is supported.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• IF YOU ONLY HAVE 5 MINUTES TO READ

PART I. PREPARATION BEFORE THE CATASTROPHE * STAGE 2. Preparation without a private bunker (2.1–2.25) * MY NUCLEAR EMERGENCY PLAN (printable template)

PART II. THE NUCLEAR EVENT * STAGE 3. Threat model * STAGE 4. The first 60 seconds * STAGE 5. The first hour * STAGE 6. The first 24 hours * STAGE 7. Radiation: units and instruments * STAGE 8. Radioactive fallout and its decay * STAGE 9. Decontamination * STAGE 10. Potassium iodide

PART III. BASIC SURVIVAL * STAGE 11. Water * STAGE 12. Food * STAGE 13. Medicine (incl. 13.16 — pregnancy, infants, the chronically ill) * STAGE 14. First-aid kit * STAGE 15. Sanitation * STAGE 16. Shelter * STAGE 17. Fire and heat * STAGE 18. Electricity * STAGE 19. Communications * STAGE 20. Navigation * STAGE 21. Transport

PART IV. RESOURCES AND SETTLEMENT * STAGE 22. Resource search * STAGE 23. Tools * STAGE 24. Agriculture * STAGE 25. Animals * STAGE 26. Food storage * STAGE 27. Clothing and textiles * STAGE 28. Weather and climate

PART V. HAZARDOUS SITES * STAGE 29. Fires * STAGE 30. Chemical hazards * STAGE 31. Nuclear power plants and radiation sources

PART VI. REBUILDING TECHNOLOGY * STAGE 32. Library of knowledge * STAGE 33. Technology tree (levels 0–7) * STAGE 34. Mechanics * STAGE 35. Water and wind power * STAGE 36. Solar power

PART VII. ORGANISING A SETTLEMENT * STAGE 37. Information system * STAGE 38. Organising the group * STAGE 39. Security * STAGE 40. Psychology

PART VIII. DECISION-MAKING SYSTEM * STAGE 41. Priorities * STAGE 42. Timeline * STAGE 43. Decision trees * STAGE 44. "What to look for" table * STAGE 45. "What not to do" table * STAGE 46. Myths

PART IX. QUALITY * The offline-first principle * Confidence levels: summary of disputed questions * Red-team report (4 roles) and consolidated list of corrections * Checking the numbers * Sources and bibliography (91 sources) * Conclusion

SEPARATELY PRINTABLE BLOCKS * "If you only have 5 minutes to read" * "My nuclear emergency plan" (template) * STAGE 4 "The first 60 seconds" * STAGE 43 "Decision trees" * STAGE 45 "What not to do"

IF YOU ONLY HAVE 5 MINUTES TO READ

These pages are the most important thing in the whole document. If you print nothing but these, you have already sharply improved your chances.

1. The three commands that save the most lives

GET INSIDE. STAY INSIDE. STAY TUNED. (The official FEMA/CDC formula.)

Mass death from radioactive fallout is largely preventable if people simply go into a suitable building and stay there for the first 24 hours. In LLNL modelling of a 10 kt detonation in a city: if everyone stays outside for 12 hours, roughly 280,000 people are affected by radiation; if everyone goes into shelter with a protection factor of 10, roughly 245,000 significant exposures are prevented.

2. You see a very bright flash

1. DO NOT LOOK at the flash. Turn away, close your eyes, cover your face with your hands. The flash causes temporary (minutes to hours) blindness or, close in, permanent blindness.
2. Lie face down immediately, feet towards the flash (head away from it). Hands under your body or under your head, mouth slightly open, ears covered. This position reduces the area exposed to the blast wave and the heat, and protects the head. ⚠️ If there is no time to turn around — just lie down, that matters more than the orientation.
3. Take cover behind anything massive: a kerb, a wall, a ditch, an embankment, a post. Get away from windows and glass shopfronts.
4. Wait for the blast wave. It arrives seconds to tens of seconds after the flash (roughly 3 seconds per kilometre — the speed of sound). It may be felt twice: the direct wave and the reflected one.
5. Do not get up immediately — after the front passes there is a reverse airflow and falling debris. Allow 30–60 seconds.

3. The next 10–15 minutes are the most valuable of your life

After a surface burst, radioactive fallout begins to land at roughly 10–15 minutes and later in the area of the explosion (LLNL/FEMA estimate: "no sooner than 10–15 minutes"). Further downwind it arrives later, over hours.

What to do: get into the most protective building you can reach on foot, and move to the basement or to the core of the building.

Shelter priority (best to worst):

⛔ A car is not a fallout shelter. Do not "wait out" fallout in a vehicle if a building is available.

4. Do not run for your family in the first hours

This is one of the most common fatal mistakes. Driving to fetch a child through a fallout zone in the first hours can kill you both. Children at school or nursery, under a roof, are better protected than you are out on the street.

Agree on this in advance. See sections 2.14 and 2.15.

5. You were outside during fallout — decontamination

1. Remove your outer layer of clothing before entering the living part of the shelter. This removes up to 90 % of the radioactive material (CDC).
2. Remove it slowly, without shaking it sharply — so as not to raise dust into the air. Peel it off "inside out".
3. Put the clothing into a bag or sack, tie it shut, and take it well away from people — another room, a corridor, outside the door.
4. If you have water: a warm shower, plenty of soap, gently. Do not scrub until the skin is raw, do not use boiling water.
5. Shampoo — yes, conditioner — no. Conditioner binds particles to the hair (CDC).
6. If water is scarce: a wet wipe or cloth on exposed areas — face, neck, hands, ears, nostrils, around the eyes. Wounds and grazes must be covered before washing.
7. If there is no water at all: brush yourself off and wipe down with a dry cloth — this already achieves a significant part of the effect (FEMA: "simply brushing particles off is effective for expedient decontamination").

6. The first 24 hours

• Stay in the most protective place for at least 24 hours, unless fire, collapse or gas poisoning drives you out. FEMA: "do not self-evacuate earlier than 24 hours unless directed by the authorities"; the first 12 hours are especially critical.
• The dose rate falls very fast: it drops by more than 80 % over the first 24 hours. The "7–10 rule": for every sevenfold increase in time, the dose rate falls by a factor of 10.
• Drink only water from sealed containers, from pipes inside the building, from the water heater, or from the toilet cistern (not the bowl). Do not drink water collected outside after the explosion.
• Food in sealed packaging (tins, glass jars, sealed pouches) is safe — wipe the packaging with a damp cloth and open it.

7. Five decisions that kill

8. What radiation does NOT do

• External exposure does not make you radioactive. An irradiated person is not a danger to those around them. What is dangerous is the dust on them — and that can simply be washed or brushed off.
• Let people into the shelter. A person with dust on their clothing is not a threat — brush them down, change their clothes and let them in (a direct FEMA/LLNL recommendation).
• The whole Earth does not become radioactive forever. The dangerous zone shrinks several-fold in the first days: according to FEMA, the "dangerous fallout" zone can shrink from 15–30 km to 2–3 km within a single day.

9. Order of priorities when everything happens at once

1. Fire, collapse, suffocation, carbon monoxide — minutes.
2. Massive bleeding, airway obstruction — minutes.
3. Getting under cover from fallout — tens of minutes.
4. Decontamination — the first hour.
5. Warmth / hypothermia — hours.
6. Water — 1–3 days.
7. Sanitation and infection — days.
8. Food — weeks.
9. Power, communications, community — weeks to months.

10. Three things to buy before the catastrophe if money is short

1. A stock of water (and the means to disinfect it) — the cheapest and the most useful.
2. An AM/FM radio receiver running on batteries or a hand crank + a stock of batteries.
3. A torch + a first-aid kit + a 1–3 month supply of your personal medication.

A dosimeter is useful, but it is fourth in priority, and only if you understand its limits (see 2.11 and STAGE 7).

PART I. PREPARATION BEFORE THE CATASTROPHE

STAGE 2. PREPARATION WITHOUT A PRIVATE BUNKER

Baseline assumption

The realistic scenario for the overwhelming majority of people:

• there is no private shelter and there never will be;
• there is no country bunker;
• you live in an ordinary flat or house;
• during the day you are at work, on the road, in a shop, or driving the children somewhere;
• the warning will be short (15–20 minutes for a missile strike) or there will be none at all;
• there is no money for serious engineering work.

The central question: what can an ordinary person do in advance to significantly increase their probability of survival?

The central answer: do not build a bunker — know in advance where to go, what to take, and what you have agreed with your family. Knowledge and agreement cost almost nothing and deliver more than any equipment.

2.1. Do not start with a bunker

What to do

Forget the bunker. Start with an inventory of what already exists around you.

Why

A bunker is useless if:

• you are not inside it at the moment of the strike (and you almost certainly will not be);
• it is more than 10–15 minutes away on foot;
• you cannot get in (locked, flooded, someone else's).

Protection from fallout gamma radiation comes from mass and distance, not from the word "bunker" on the door. An ordinary underground shopping-centre car park gives better protection than many "special" structures in poor repair.

Comparative assessment of shelter types

The numbers below are dose reduction factors (protection factors, PF) from the official FEMA guide Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation, 3rd ed. (2022) and from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory materials (LLNL, Brooke Buddemeier). PF = 10 means a person receives 1/10 of the dose of someone out in the open. These are order-of-magnitude estimates for typical buildings, not rated characteristics of your specific building.

Confidence: high for the orders of magnitude; Confidence: low for the exact value in any particular building.

What you need to understand about the metro and tunnels

The metro gives excellent protection against gamma radiation, but:

• ⚠️ metro ventilation is forced — when power fails the air stagnates, CO2 and humidity rise;
• ⚠️ flooding is possible if the pumps fail (many metro systems pump out groundwater continuously);
• ⚠️ with large crowds — crush injuries, heat stress, epidemic risk;
• ⚠️ the exit may be blocked by debris.

Conclusion: the metro is an excellent shelter for hours to a day, a doubtful one for weeks.

What you need to understand about underground car parks

Excellent protection by mass, but:

• ⚠️ hundreds of cars = hundreds of litres of petrol and tens of litres of engine oil;
• ⚠️ electric and hybrid vehicles = lithium-ion batteries which, when damaged, burn while releasing hydrogen fluoride and cannot be put out by ordinary means;
• ⚠️ supply-and-extract ventilation will shut down along with the electricity;
• ⚠️ the exit may be blocked by an automatic barrier with no power.

Conclusion: an excellent shelter, provided you settle well away from the cars, close to the stairwell, and know a second way out.

2.2. A map of shelters

What to do

Over one or two weekends, walk the area around your home and around your workplace and compile a table of shelters. This is the cheapest and probably the most useful single action in the whole of preparation.

How to search

Look for sites with these features:

1. An underground level — car park, basement, lower ground floor, plant floor, root cellar, civil-defence protective structure.
2. Massive construction — monolithic reinforced concrete, solid brick, stone, concrete panels.
3. Large volume — the bigger the building, the further you can get from the exterior walls and the roof.
4. Round-the-clock accessibility — an entrance hall, a lobby, a car park with a permanently open entrance.

Types of site worth checking:

• official civil-defence protective structures (signage, lists held by the local administration);
• basements of apartment blocks;
• underground car parks of residential complexes and shopping centres;
• metro stations and passageways;
• road and pedestrian tunnels;
• large shopping complexes (concrete frame, underground levels);
• universities and institutes (permanent buildings, often with basements and laboratory blocks);
• hospitals (permanent construction, but overcrowded in wartime — see the risks);
• administrative buildings, courts, banks (thick walls, vaults);
• industrial buildings, grain elevators, concrete warehouses, cold stores;
• pumping stations, substations, works shelters attached to enterprises.

Shelter table template

Print it and fill it in by hand. One copy in your wallet, one at home, one at work.

How to fill in the columns:

• Time on foot — measure it for real, on your own feet, not from a map. Reckon 4–5 km/h on level ground, 3 km/h over rubble and stairs, 2 km/h with children or a load.
• Material — monolithic / brick / panel / glass-clad frame / timber. A glass façade is a major minus.
• Underground level — the main plus. Note exactly how to get down there.
• Accessibility — if the door is locked, note who opens it and whether there is an alternative.
• Water — taps, water heaters, fire mains, coolers, retail outlets.
• Fire risks — a filling station nearby, a gas boiler house, a flammable-liquids store, an underground car park, timber-built surroundings.
• Alternative exit — you must be able to leave if the shelter catches fire or starts to collapse.

What else to record

• Whether there is a toilet and drainage.
• Whether there is emergency lighting.
• Where the nearest body of water, standpipe or borehole is.
• Who is normally there (security, staff) — you will have to come to an arrangement with them.
• Where the gas supply enters and how to shut it off.

2.3. Three shelters for every place

What to do

For every place where you regularly spend time, identify three shelters.

• Primary — the best in terms of protection, reachable in ≤ 10 minutes on foot.
• Backup — slightly worse, but in a different direction (in case of fire, collapse, or a crowd on the way to the primary one).
• Emergency — somewhere you can reach in 1–3 minutes, even if it is mediocre.

"A poor shelter now" beats "a good shelter in 20 minutes under fallout".

Table (fill in beforehand)

The 10-minute rule

If a shelter is more than 10–15 minutes away on foot — it is not a shelter for you, it is a second-day objective. Look closer to home.

2.4. Routes

What to do

For each "where I am → where I am going" transition, identify two or three routes and walk them on foot at least once.

What to allow for when planning

About cars after a detonation

⚠️ Do not assume a car is the best transport. After a nuclear strike on a city:

• roads are jammed with abandoned and wrecked vehicles;
• traffic lights are out, junctions are blocked;
• debris and glass shred tyres;
• a car gives PF ≈ 1–2, i.e. it barely protects at all;
• an electromagnetic pulse may damage the electronics of modern cars. FEMA states directly that the mechanism and scale of EMP from a surface burst are "poorly understood"; for a high-altitude burst the effect is significant and covers vast areas.

Confidence: medium regarding EMP effects on cars — experimental data are limited and contradictory.

Conclusion: in the first hours, go on foot to the nearest good shelter. A car is a second- or third-day tool for getting out of the zone, once the route is known and the dose rate has fallen.

2.5. The best place inside your own home

What to do

Today, identify one specific point in your home — not "somewhere in the hallway", but the specific spot where you will lay out a mattress.

Selection algorithm

1. Is there a basement or cellar? → That is your place. The corner furthest from the exterior walls, under a structural slab.
2. No basement, but an underground car park under the building? → That is your place (but see the fire risks in 2.1).
3. An apartment block? → Look for a space: * with no windows (hallway, bathroom, storeroom, walk-in wardrobe); * in the interior of the flat, as far as possible from the exterior walls; * not on the top floor and not on the ground floor — the top floor collects radiation from fallout on the roof, the ground floor from fallout on the surrounding ground; * ideally — the middle floors of a tall building, in the building core (inner corridor, stair-and-lift core, windowless refuse-chute room).
4. A detached house with no basement? → The central windowless room on the ground floor; add mass on top of that (see 2.6). If there is a root cellar, an inspection pit in the garage, or a dugout nearby, they are better than the house.

Why mass and distance decide everything

Gamma radiation is attenuated exponentially as it passes through matter. The governing parameter is areal density (mass per square metre), not thickness as such.

Halving thicknesses for fallout gamma radiation (typical effective energy of the order of 0.7 MeV). Each such layer reduces the intensity by roughly half:

Confidence: medium — the values depend on gamma energy and on the mix of nuclides; different civil-defence manuals give figures differing by 10–30 %. The order of magnitude is stable.

Practical conclusion: 5 halving layers = a 32-fold reduction; 7 layers = 128-fold. By simple arithmetic: 30 cm of concrete ≈ 5.5 layers ≈ a 40-fold reduction; 45 cm of brick ≈ 7 layers ≈ 100-fold; 60 cm of tightly packed earth ≈ 7 layers ≈ 100–130-fold.

⚠️ Correction for scattering. The simple "halving layers" calculation overstates the real protection: some gamma quanta are not absorbed but scattered within the material and still reach you (the buildup effect). For thick shields the real attenuation can be 2–5 times worse than calculated. This is why all the tabulated protection factors (PF) in this document are empirical, measured for real buildings, rather than computed from layers.

Confidence: high that the simple calculation overstates protection; Confidence: medium as to the size of the correction.

Distance works for free. Fallout lies on the ground and on the roof. If you are in the middle of a 10-storey building on the 5th floor, there are 5 floor slabs between you and the roof, 5 between you and the ground, and tens of metres horizontally to the nearest contaminated horizontal surface. That is exactly why "the core of a large building" is so effective even without a basement.

2.6. Improving an ordinary room

What to do

Increase the mass between you and the external surfaces (walls, windows, ceiling, floor) by safe means.

Category 1: safe, do it without hesitation ✅

Category 2: requires engineering judgement ⚠️

Load safety rule: Confidence: medium — a typical residential intermediate floor slab is rated for an imposed load of the order of 150–200 kg/m² (codes differ by country and by year of construction). Do not add more than ~100 kg/m² without a calculation; place the load closer to load-bearing walls rather than in mid-span.

Category 3: dangerous, do not do it ⛔

Ventilation: the minimum numbers

• An adult at rest consumes roughly 0.3–0.5 m³ of oxygen per day and exhales a comparable volume of CO2.
• The danger comes not from lack of oxygen but from CO2 accumulation: above about 2 % concentration, breathlessness and headache appear; above about 5 %, pronounced poisoning; above 7–10 %, loss of consciousness.
• Practical benchmark: no less than 3–5 m³ of fresh air per person per hour for normal well-being; the absolute survival minimum is lower, but you cannot rely on it.

Confidence: medium — the specific values depend on activity, temperature and room volume.

Practical solution: keep the air supply minimal but non-zero. An interior door left ajar to the next room, a working ventilation duct, the gap under the door to the stairwell. Radioactive dust can be filtered by cloth; CO2 cannot.

A simple improvised supply-air filter

If you have to admit outside air during fallout:

1. Air supply through one controlled opening only.
2. Over that opening — 3–5 layers of dense fabric (a sheet, a towel), preferably slightly damp, or a domestic HEPA filter / vacuum-cleaner filter.
3. Put the filter on the outside of the opening, so that the trapped dust stays outside the room.
4. Replace the filter periodically, working in a respirator and gloves, and dispose of the old one in a bag.

⚠️ This reduces the ingress of dust, but it does not reduce the gamma field from fallout outside.

Priority of actions given a short warning (15 minutes)

1. Get into a windowless room in the centre of the building, or into the basement (30 seconds).
2. Bring water and food there (3 minutes).
3. Drag in mattresses, books, water containers (5 minutes).
4. Close the doors, switch off the supply ventilation and the air conditioning, shut off the gas (1 minute).
5. Fill every container, the bath and the pans with water (in parallel).
6. Lie down and wait.

Do not try to build anything complicated. Just get deeper into the mass.

2.7. Emergency kits

Three kits, because you do not know where the event will find you.

HOME KIT (home kit, 14 days)

Keep it in a bag or container next to your chosen shelter in the house, not in a cupboard in another room.

Water and water treatment

Food

Medicines and medical supplies

Light, power, communications

Protection, hygiene, tools

Information and documents

Dosimetry

WORK KIT (workplace kit)

A small 5–8 kg bag or rucksack under the desk or in a locker. The aim is to survive 24–72 hours at work, or to walk home.

MOBILE KIT (pocket/everyday)

What is with you always, even when you have just gone out for bread.

2.8. Water in advance

What to do

Build up a stock of drinking water and, separately, of non-potable utility water.

How much

Confidence: high — the spread between 7.5 / 15 / 20 l is explained by different coverage: physiology alone versus physiology + hygiene + cooking.

Practical conclusion: 4 l/person/day for drinking and cooking is the working household minimum. Everything above that, up to 15 l, is hygiene — which starts to decide outcomes after 5–10 days (infections).

Corrections

Target stock

Storage and rotation

✅ What to do:

• Commercially bottled water in its factory seal — store in a dark, cool place; rotate once every 1–2 years by the date on the label.
• Tap water you have bottled yourself: only in food-grade containers (HDPE/PET marking), thoroughly washed; change it every 6 months.
• Keep containers off a concrete floor directly (put a board underneath) and away from petrol, solvents and pesticides — plastic lets vapours through.
• Split the stock across several 5–20 l containers: one large one is a single point of failure.
• Write the filling date on it with a marker.

⛔ What not to do:

• Never use jerrycans that have held fuel, chemicals or household chemicals — never.
• Do not store water in sunlight (microbial growth, plastic degradation).
• Do not rely on a filter jug alone: it does not build a store.

What to do in 5 minutes when a warning comes

1. Fill the bath, every pan, bucket and bottle.
2. Fill the washing machine (it holds water).
3. Shut off the water inlet to the flat after filling — then the water in the riser pipes and the water heater stays available and will not be contaminated if the main loses pressure.
4. Do not flush the toilet cisterns.

Hidden sources of water in the home (in order of quality)

1. The water heater/boiler — 50–100 l of clean water. Drain via the bottom valve. ⚠️ Disconnect the power/gas first, otherwise the element will burn out; let it cool.
2. The riser pipes — open a tap on the top floor (to admit air) and drain from a lower one.
3. Toilet cisterns (not the bowl!) — provided no scented tablets are used.
4. Ice cubes, juices, tinned vegetables (brine), stewed fruit.
5. The heating system — ⛔ utility water only: it contains corrosion inhibitors, corrosion products, and sometimes antifreeze. Do not drink it.
6. The aquarium — utility water; requires disinfection and filtration.

2.9. Food in advance

What to do

Build a stock of food that needs no refrigerator, no large quantity of water, no complex cooking and no fuel.

Selection criteria

Recommended foods

How much

A practical "one year per person" scheme (simplified, on the model of classic long-term stores)

Confidence: medium — this is a reference point for calories and protein, not a dietetic standard. Such a ration needs supplementing with vitamins (especially A, C, D, B12) and fats.

Storage

✅ Cool (below +20 °C), dark, dry, airtight, protected from rodents. ✅ Grain and pulses — in metal or thick-walled plastic containers, preferably with an oxygen absorber. ✅ The FIFO rule: new to the back, old to the front; eat what you buy and buy what you eat. ⚠️ Every +10 °C roughly halves the shelf life of most products. ⛔ Do not store food next to fuel, paints or solvents.

2.10. Radio and communications

What to do

Buy a receiver that works without mains power and picks up AM (medium wave), not just FM.

Why AM matters more than FM

Recommendation: an AM/FM/SW receiver running on batteries and a hand-crank dynamo, preferably with a USB output and a solar panel. Such devices are inexpensive and replace three instruments.

Confidence: high on the propagation physics; Confidence: low as to what will actually be broadcasting in your region.

About warning systems

⚠️ Warning systems depend on the country. There is no universal "emergency frequency".

• In the USA — EAS/IPAWS, NOAA Weather Radio (162.400–162.550 MHz), WEA cell broadcasts.
• In Europe — EU-Alert/cell broadcast, national sirens, national radio.
• In Russia and a number of CIS countries — the "Attention everyone!" sirens, after which you must switch on the wired radio outlet, a radio or a television; the all-Russian wired broadcasting network and VHF/FM channels.
• In Japan — J-Alert.

What to do in advance:

1. Find out which station in your city is designated as the emergency station and write the frequency down on paper, stuck to the receiver.
2. Check whether your receiver picks up that station inside your flat (reception may disappear in a basement — you will need an external antenna).
3. Write down 3–5 backup AM frequencies and 2–3 SW frequencies of major international broadcasters.
4. If you have a wired radio outlet, check that it works.

The car radio

A good fallback: a powerful antenna, powered from the battery. ⚠️ But you must not listen to it while sitting in the car during fallout. Options: remove the receiver, or use the car as a power source for household equipment (see STAGE 18).

An AM antenna in a basement

AM reception in a reinforced-concrete basement is almost impossible. The solution: a long wire (10–20 m) run outside or into the stairwell, connected to the receiver's telescopic antenna (you can simply wind a few turns around it). ⚠️ Never run an antenna close to power lines.

2.11. A dosimeter

Is it worth buying one in advance?

Yes, if you understand what you are buying and get an instrument with a sufficient upper limit. No, if you buy a cheap "mushroom checker" and take its readings as truth in a fallout zone — that is a false sense of security, and it kills.

What an instrument must be able to do in a nuclear scenario

Detector types

⚠️ THE MAIN WARNING: SATURATION

A Geiger counter in a very strong field may show a low value or zero — not because it is safe there, but because the tube has choked (the dead-time "folding back" effect). This has killed people in real accidents.

Rules:

1. Know your instrument's upper limit by heart. Write it on the casing with a marker.
2. If the instrument shows overload (OL, ---, flashing, a continuous trilling tone) — leave immediately; this is not "the instrument has broken".
3. If the readings fall as you approach the source — that is a sign of saturation. Back away.
4. A cheap instrument with no energy compensation can be wrong by a factor of 2–5 for soft gamma radiation.
5. A dosimeter does not "see" alpha radiation and often sees beta poorly through the casing. No reading ≠ no contamination.
6. ⛔ Never use phone "dosimeter" apps based on the camera for life-and-death decisions. Their accuracy is extremely low.

What to buy (guidance)

Calibration

Instruments drift over time. If you can, have them checked every 1–2 years. A simple home functional check (not a calibration!): the instrument should read a natural background of about 0.05–0.30 µSv/h (the level depends on geology and altitude; it is higher in granite regions and in an aircraft). If it reads zero, the instrument is faulty.

2.12. Backup electricity

The goal

Not to "power the house", but to provide light, radio, phone, dosimeter and small medical equipment. That is tens of watts, not kilowatts.

Estimating the requirement

Conclusion: basic needs are 30–60 Wh per day. That is one 10,000 mAh power bank (≈37 Wh) for a day or two, or a 20 W solar panel for a couple of hours of sun. Medical equipment changes the picture by an order of magnitude — calculate it separately.

Options

⛔ Critical prohibitions

• ⛔ Never run a generator indoors, in a garage, in a basement, on a balcony, or under a canopy. Not even with the windows open. CPSC/CDC: no closer than 20 feet (≈6 m) from the house, doors, windows and ventilation, with the exhaust pointing away from the building.
• ⛔ Never connect a generator to the house wiring through a socket ("backfeeding"). It kills linesmen on the network and you yourself when power is restored.
• ⛔ Do not charge damaged, swollen or punctured lithium-ion batteries. See STAGE 18.
• ⚠️ Lead-acid batteries give off hydrogen while charging — it is explosive. Only in a ventilated place, with no sparks and no naked flame.

A minimum sensible set

1. Two 10,000 mAh power banks.
2. 40–60 AA/AAA batteries (alkaline + a few lithium).
3. A 20–30 W solar panel with USB and a controller.
4. A car USB adapter (12 V → 5 V).
5. A universal cable set (USB-A, USB-C, micro-USB, Lightning).

2.13. Offline information

What to do

Assume there will never be internet again. Everything you are going to need must already be in your possession.

What to save

How to store it (three media — mandatory)

Recommendation: assemble an archive (a Kiwix/ZIM copy of Wikipedia, medical PDFs, manuals) on a USB stick and print out the 30–50 most critical pages. Laminate, or put in a plastic wallet, 5 pages of "first aid" and "what to do when you see a flash".

⚠️ Electronics may be damaged by EMP. Storing a spare medium and a spare simple receiver in a metal box (a tin, a metal safe, a microwave oven) with insulation from the walls is cheap insurance. Confidence: medium — the effectiveness of improvised shielding is not guaranteed, but it does no harm.

2.14. The family plan

What to do

Have one 30-minute conversation, answer 6 questions, and write the answers down on paper. This is cheaper and more useful than any equipment.

The six questions

⛔ The central rule of the family plan

You must not automatically leave a good shelter in order to meet up.

This runs against instinct, and that is exactly why the decision has to be made in advance, calmly, and spoken aloud.

FEMA states directly: the need to reunite is the main reason people leave shelter and die. Children at school under a concrete roof are better protected than a parent walking to fetch them through the streets.

Wording for the family: "We have agreed: everyone shelters where they are and stays put for 24 hours. We will meet afterwards. If I have not come within 24 hours, that does not mean I am dead, it means I am in shelter."

Family plan card

Print one copy per family member, laminate it, and put it in a wallet/rucksack/pencil case.

FAMILY EMERGENCY PLAN
Surname: ______________________

I shelter at: home ______________ work/school ______________
My primary meeting point: ______________________
Backup meeting point: ______________________
Distant point (another city): ______________________
Out-of-region contact: ___________________ tel. ___________
Place for notes: ______________________

RULE: we stay put for 24 hours. Nobody goes to fetch anybody on the first day.

Medical: blood group ______ allergies ______________
Medicines: ______________________

Notes

Agree on an agreed place for notes. Whenever you leave the flat/shelter, always leave a note:

Date: ______  Time: ______
Who: ______________________
Condition: well / injured (how) ______________
Where I am going: ______________________
Route: ______________________
When I will return / next entry: ______________

2.15. Children

Scenario: the child is at school or nursery

What to do in advance

1. Find out the institution's official emergency plan: is there a basement, where are the children sheltered, how long is the institution obliged to keep the children, who is entitled to collect a child.
2. Ask directly: "What will you do if an air-raid warning is issued and parents cannot get here?" If there is no answer, that is information for you.
3. Add to the list of authorised persons several people who live close to the school, not only yourself.
4. Put in your child's rucksack: a bottle of water, a snack bar, a small torch, a whistle, a card with the plan, a warm hat, a spare dose of their personal medicine.
5. Teach the child a simple algorithm (age appropriate): * saw a very bright light → do not look, lie down, cover your ears, open your mouth; * then → go inside the building, downwards, away from windows; * do as the adults at school say; * do not go home on your own for the first 24 hours; * if you are alone — go into any large building and stay there.
6. Rehearse it as a game 2–3 times a year. Without frightening them: "it is like a fire drill, only you go down and inwards."

What a parent should do at the moment of the event

The particular features of children

2.16. Pets

What to prepare

Decontaminating an animal

1. Work in gloves and a respirator.
2. First brush/wipe the coat thoroughly with a dry towel — this removes the bulk of the particles.
3. Then wash with shampoo (ordinary pet shampoo or baby shampoo) in warm water, without conditioner.
4. Pay particular attention to: paws, muzzle, ears, belly, tail.
5. ⚠️ The animal licks itself — that is a direct route for contamination to get inside. Washing the paws and muzzle is the priority.
6. Used towels — into a bag, outside.
7. Collect the run-off if you can, and pour it away outside the living area.

The reality

⚠️ There will be problems in a shelter with an animal: noise, smell, conflict with other people, consumption of water and food. Decide in advance what you will do. Leaving the animal in the flat with a stock of food and water is an option worth considering honestly, rather than in a panic.

2.17. The workplace

What to establish in advance

⚠️ A particular risk: glass office buildings

A modern business centre is the worst case: continuous glazing, lightweight structures, an enormous area of exterior wall. The blast wave turns the façade into a cloud of fragments. Your place is the underground car park, the plant floors, the building core by the lift shafts.

On a warning: get away from the windows immediately and go down to the car park.

2.18. The car

What it is sensible to keep in the car permanently

⛔ A car is not a fallout shelter

• PF ≈ 1–2. FEMA: "vehicles are not adequate shelter, as they do not contain good shielding material."
• Glass does not stop gamma radiation.
• The air conditioning/ventilation draws in dust (switch to recirculation if you are forced to drive).

Correct use: drive to a shelter within minutes, abandon the car and go into the building. Or use it after 24 hours to evacuate along a known route.

The car as a resource

2.19. Preparing clothing

What to prepare

⚠️ A CRITICAL CLARIFICATION ABOUT RESPIRATORS

A respirator reduces the inhalation of radioactive particles, but it does NOT protect against gamma radiation.

Gamma radiation is a stream of high-energy photons; fabric, rubber and filters are transparent to it. Only mass and distance work against gamma.

Moreover, FEMA/LLNL state directly: do not waste time looking for a respirator — the external dose from fallout ("ground shine") usually exceeds the inhalation dose by orders of magnitude. The priority is to get inside as fast as possible. A respirator is a bonus if you already have one to hand.

Confidence: high — this is a direct formulation from FEMA PG 3rd ed.

But: ad-hoc protection is better than none. FEMA: "even improvised protection (a cloth held over the mouth and nose) is better than nothing."

Layering (for cold)

Rule: 3 thin layers beat 1 thick one — you can regulate them and avoid sweating. Sweat in the cold kills.

2.20. Preparing for decontamination

What to do in advance

Think through and physically mark out the scheme in your home:

DIRTY ZONE  →  REMOVE CLOTHING  →  ISOLATE  →  CLEAN UP  →  CLEAN CLOTHING  →  SHELTER
 (street,       (porch/            (bag,       (shower/     (spare              (clean
 stairwell)     hallway,           tie shut,   wipe-down)   set)                zone)
                balcony)           take out)

Practical marking-out of a flat

Prepare in advance

• 2 changes of clothing per person in sealed bags, in the clean zone.
• 20–30 large rubbish sacks + string/cable ties.
• A container of water in the bathroom (at least 20 l) in case the mains are down.
• Scissors (cutting clothing off is faster than pulling it over the head — and safer: do not drag contaminated fabric across the face).
• Soap — plain, and plenty of it. Special "decontamination" products are not needed.
• A place for the "dirty" sacks: well away from people, outside the door, on the balcony, in the stairwell. Distance is your friend.

For the full procedure, see STAGE 9

2.21. Fire as a competing risk

Why this is critical

A nuclear detonation causes mass fires from thermal radiation and from ruptured gas mains and electrical networks. In a densely built city the fires can merge into a single mass.

Fire kills faster than radiation. Smoke and carbon monoxide kill in minutes; fallout kills in hours and days. That is why there are situations in which you have to leave a good shelter.

What to prepare in advance

Carbon monoxide (CO): the numbers

Confidence: medium — thresholds differ between sources; they depend on duration, physical exertion, age and the presence of heart disease.

Symptoms of CO: headache, nausea, weakness, dizziness, confusion, "like flu but without a temperature". If several people in a room have a headache at the same time — get out into fresh air immediately.

DECISION TREE: stay in the shelter or leave it because of fire/collapse

START: I am in shelter. There are signs of fire or structural damage.

1. Is there a DIRECT threat to life RIGHT NOW?
   • Fire in my room or the next one?
   • Dense smoke, I cannot see beyond arm's length?
   • I cannot breathe, coughing, burning in the throat?
   • The structure is cracking, the ceiling is sagging, the walls are separating?
   • Several people at once have headache/nausea/confusion (CO)?
        YES → LEAVE IMMEDIATELY. Go to item 6.
        NO → item 2

2. Fire in the building, but not next to me?
        YES → Can I isolate myself?
             • Shut the door (a door holds fire back for minutes to tens of minutes)
             • Plug the gaps with wet cloth
             • Move to a room with a window on the other side (for signalling and air)
             IF no smoke is coming in and the temperature is not rising → STAY, check every 10 minutes
             IF smoke is coming in or the door is heating up → item 6
        NO → item 3

3. Fire outside, in neighbouring buildings?
        • Determine the wind direction
        • Assess the distance and whether there is a break (street, courtyard, river, waste ground)
        IF the fire is across the street and the wind is towards me → prepare to leave, item 5
        IF the fire is downwind or far away → STAY, keep watching

4. The building is damaged but not on fire?
        Signs of immediate danger: cracks wider than 5 mm running through load-bearing walls;
        sagging slabs; distorted door frames; cracking noises; spalling concrete
        YES → leave, item 6
        NO → move to a lower floor / into a load-bearing wall opening, stay

5. I have decided to leave, but not immediately. Preparation (2–5 minutes):
        • Put on covering clothing, footwear, gloves, respirator, goggles
        • Take: water, first-aid kit, torch, documents, radio, dosimeter
        • Decide WHERE (a backup shelter from your list)
        • Decide the ROUTE (not through fire, upwind of the smoke)
        • Leave a note

6. LEAVING. Rules:
        • Breathe through a damp cloth, move CROUCHED or on all fours,
          30–60 cm above the floor: in a fire, smoke, heat and CO rise,
          and the air is cleaner low down
          NOTE: the opposite rule applies in a CHEMICAL release —
          chlorine, propane, hydrogen sulphide and CO2 pool at floor level, there you go HIGHER
        • Do not use the lift
        • Before opening a door, touch it with the back of your hand: hot → do not open
        • Go to the backup shelter by the SHORTEST route, minimising time outside
        • Outside — cover the skin, respirator on, do not eat, do not drink, do not touch your face
        • On arrival — decontamination (STAGE 9)

PRINCIPLE: radiation kills over hours and days, fire and smoke over minutes.
In a direct conflict, the faster threat wins.

2.22. Regular checks

Checklist (carry out 1–2 times a year; tie it to the clocks changing, a birthday or New Year)

2.23. A household exercise

Run it 1–2 times a year. It takes 20–40 minutes. Without it the plan is just paper.

Scenario 1: "The whole family is at home, an alert is issued, 15 minutes"

Task: within 15 minutes, everyone is in the chosen shelter place with water, food, first-aid kit, radio and torches.

What to check: * Does everyone know where to go? * How long did it actually take? * What was forgotten? * Was there enough room? * Does the radio work in that room?

Scenario 2: "The family is in different places, communications are down"

Task: each person says out loud what they will do, without calling the others.

What to check: * Does each person know their shelter at work/school? * Does each person know the rule "we stay put for 24 hours, nobody goes to fetch anybody"? * Does each person know the meeting point and the place for notes?

Scenario 3: "No communications, 48 hours have passed"

Task: play out who goes where, in what order, by which routes.

What to check: * Do the different family members' plans match? (a common mistake: two people set out towards each other by different routes and miss each other) * Who stays put and who moves? Rule: one person moves, the rest wait.

Scenario 4: "The nearest shelter is unavailable"

Task: walk to the backup one and time it.

What to check: * The real travel time. * Whether the route is passable. * What you took with you and whether you could carry it.

Scenario 5: "Fire in the shelter"

Task: run through the decision tree in 2.21. Get out, reach the backup shelter.

Scenario 6: "No electricity for 72 hours"

Task: actually live through a weekend without electricity (do it in summer, as practice).

What this tests: lighting, cooking, water, the toilet, boredom, conflict, charging phones. This is the most informative exercise of all — you will uncover a dozen problems you had no idea about.

2.24. Budgets

A formula for evaluating a purchase

Value = (Probability it will be needed)
      × (Severity of the consequences if you do not have it)
      × (Versatility: how many other scenarios it covers)
      ÷ (Cost)

Practical meaning: water, a first-aid kit and a torch beat any exotic equipment, because they will be useful in a power cut, a flood, a burst main, a hurricane, and simply on a hike — that is, with a probability close to 1.

An expensive dosimeter is a low probability of use × very high severity of consequences × low versatility. That is why it sits in the middle of the list, not at the top.

Minimum budget (guide: the cost of one or two trips to the shops)

Aim: survive 72 hours and not die of stupidity.

Plus, free of charge: the shelter map, the family plan, three routes, choosing the spot in the flat. This delivers more than everything you buy.

Medium budget

Aim: survive 2–4 weeks self-sufficiently.

Everything from the minimum, plus:

The most sensible preparation possible without your own bunker

Aim: 6–12 months of autonomy and the ability to move towards self-sufficiency.

Everything from the medium budget, plus:

⚠️ The main warning on budgets: the commonest failure in preparation is to buy equipment and not buy skill. A first-aid course costs less than a good knife and saves more lives.

2.25. Purchase priority: one item a month

The order is optimised by the formula in 2.24: first the things that are cheap, versatile, and cover the fastest threats.

Rule: if there is no money in a given month, skip the purchase but do the free action: walk a route, check a shelter, run an exercise, update the plan.

MY NUCLEAR EMERGENCY PLAN

This page is intended to be printed separately. Print it, fill it in by hand, laminate it or put it in a plastic wallet. Make copies: at home by the shelter, at work, in your rucksack, in the car, in your wallet.

Date completed: __ Date last checked: ____

WHERE I LIVE

Home (address):

Building type / material / floor:

SHELTERS

Primary shelter (address, how to get in, time on foot):

Backup shelter (address, time on foot):

Emergency shelter (nearest, time on foot):

Best place in my home (specific room):

Best place at work (specific room):

ROUTES

Primary route (work → home, or home → shelter):

Backup route:

Hazardous points on the route (bridges, filling stations, chemical sites, bottlenecks):

SUPPLIES

Water store (how many litres, where kept, date filled):

Food store (how many days, where):

Medicines (what, for whom, how much, where, expiry date):

Radio (model, power, emergency station frequencies): AM: _ AM backup: _ FM: _ SW: _

Dosimeter (model, upper measuring limit, where it is kept, batteries):

Electricity (power bank, panel, batteries — what and where):

PEOPLE

Family plan (who shelters where):

Children's plan (school/nursery, their rules, who may collect them):

Animals plan (who, what to take, where the carrier is):

Primary meeting point:

Backup meeting point (another district):

Distant meeting point (another city):

Out-of-region contact (name, city, phone):

Place for notes:

FAMILY MEDICAL DATA

THE CENTRAL RULE WE AGREED IN ADVANCE

Everyone shelters where they are. We stay put for at least 24 hours. Nobody goes to fetch anybody on the first day. We will meet afterwards. No contact does not mean death.

Family members' signatures: _________

PART II. THE NUCLEAR EVENT

STAGE 3. THREAT MODEL

Before making decisions, you need to understand what exactly can kill you and in what time order.

3.1. Summary table of threats

3.2. Three concepts that are constantly confused

Understanding this difference is the foundation of every decision that follows.

EXPOSURE (irradiation, external exposure)

Your body is penetrated by radiation from a source outside it. Like a suntan from the sun, or an X-ray at the hospital.

• It stops instantly as soon as you move away from the source or put mass between you and it.
• ⛔ You do NOT become radioactive. An irradiated person is not dangerous to those around them.
• This is the main cause of death from fallout.

CONTAMINATION

Radioactive material is physically present on you, in you, or on objects. Like dirt or pollen.

• External contamination — particles on skin, hair and clothing. Removed by washing and taking clothes off.
• Internal contamination — particles that have got inside through breathing, swallowing or wounds. The body clears them slowly; some nuclides accumulate in organs.
• A contaminated person is a source of radiation for those around them (weak, but real) — until decontamination.
• This is treatable: take the clothes off and wash.

FALLOUT

Physical material: dust, sand, particles of soil and structures that were drawn up into the fireball, mixed with radioactive fission products, and fell back to the ground.

• In appearance — fine sand or ash, usually visible. FEMA: "the most dangerous fallout particles are readily visible as grains the size of fine sand."
• ⚠️ But the absence of visible dust does not mean the absence of radiation. On rough and dirty surfaces the particles are not visible.
• Fallout simultaneously produces external exposure (gamma) and contamination (on contact).

A simple analogy

Fire = the radiation source. Heat from the fire = exposure. Step back and it stops warming you. Sparks that land on your clothing = contamination. They have to be brushed off, or they go on burning. The ash scattered around the area = fallout.

3.3. Types of ionising radiation

Practical consequences

1. What kills you in fallout is gamma. Only mass and distance work against it. No mask, suit, cream or pill helps.
2. Alpha and beta are dangerous when they get inside you or onto your skin. A respirator, covering clothing, washing, and clean food and water work against them.
3. There is no neutron radiation in fallout. It exists only in the first minute near ground zero. Do not waste thought on it.
4. X-rays are physically the same as gamma but of lower energy; they are not treated separately in the fallout context.

3.4. Neutron-induced activity

Within roughly 1 km of a surface burst, neutrons make certain elements in the soil, concrete and metal radioactive (sodium, manganese, aluminium). This "induced activity" adds to the fallout, but decays quickly (hours to days for the main nuclides).

Confidence: medium — it depends on the weapon type and the soil composition.

Practical conclusion: the immediate vicinity of ground zero stays dangerous longer than the surrounding fallout zone, but for a survivor this does not change the plan: do not go there.

3.5. The main fallout nuclides and why they matter

3.6. The time order of threats — the central diagram of this document

SECONDS:   flash → flash burn, blindness → blast wave → injuries, debris
MINUTES:   fire, smoke, CO, collapse, massive bleeding, suffocation
10–60 MIN: arrival of fallout → gamma exposure outdoors
HOURS:     gamma dose accumulates; hypothermia/overheating; shock; burns
DAYS:      dehydration; lack of medicines; contamination of water and food
WEEKS:     infections; sanitation; acute radiation sickness in the exposed; hunger begins
MONTHS:    hunger; chronic illness without treatment; cold/heat; conflict
YEARS:     nutritional deficiency; long-term soil contamination (Cs-137, Sr-90); cancer; depopulation

STAGE 4. THE FIRST 60 SECONDS

This section should take less than a minute to read. Print it separately.

ALGORITHM: "I HAVE SEEN A NUCLEAR FLASH"

1. DO NOT LOOK. Turn away, screw your eyes shut, cover them with your hands.
2. DROP FACE DOWN. Hands under your body or your head. Mouth slightly open. Ears covered.
3. GET BEHIND COVER. Anything: a kerb, a ditch, a wall, a post, furniture, a bath.
4. WAIT FOR THE BLAST WAVE. It arrives in seconds to tens of seconds. There may be two.
5. WAIT ANOTHER 30–60 SECONDS after the wave: reverse flow, falling debris.
6. GET UP. CHECK YOURSELF. GO INSIDE AND DOWN.

Why the mouth is slightly open: it equalises the pressure on both sides of the eardrum, reducing the risk of rupture. Why face down: it protects the eyes and exposed skin from the thermal pulse and from flying glass. Why wait: after the front passes, the air rushes back (the negative phase), lifting debris a second time.

By situation

I AM IN THE STREET

1. Lie down immediately, behind any obstacle, face down, head towards cover.
2. Cover exposed skin: hands under your body, face in the crook of your elbow.
3. After the wave — get up, check yourself over (blood, burns, protruding objects).
4. Go to the nearest massive building, downwards (the basement) or into the core.
5. Do not look at the mushroom cloud, do not photograph it, do not look for your possessions.
6. Respirator or cloth over the face — if it is to hand; do not spend time on it.

⚠️ If you saw the flash but no wave has arrived after 60+ seconds, the detonation is far away (more than ~20 km). Go inside anyway: fallout may reach you.

I AM IN A CAR

1. Pull over/stop immediately if the wave has not yet arrived. Duck below window level, face down, hands over your head.
2. ⚠️ Do not stay in the car after the wave has passed. A car does not protect against fallout.
3. After the wave: look around, abandon the car if there is a building nearby; or drive for a minute or two to a massive building if the road is clear.
4. If you are somewhere remote with no buildings — drive perpendicular to the wind and away from the cloud, looking for a building, a basement, a tunnel, a bridge with an embankment, a cave, a quarry, a gully.
5. Switch the ventilation to recirculation and close the windows.

I AM IN A FLAT

1. Get away from the windows. Lie on the floor by an internal wall, under a table, in the bath, in the hallway.
2. After the wave — check: fire? gas? collapse?
3. Shut off the gas, kill the power to damaged circuits.
4. Move into the basement or into an interior room with no windows (see 2.5).
5. Close the doors and windows (if intact), switch off the supply ventilation/air conditioning.
6. Fill everything you have with water.
7. Switch on the radio.

I AM IN A HIGH-RISE BUILDING

1. Get away from the glazing immediately: into the corridor, the stairwell, a lavatory, the lift lobby.
2. Lie down, cover your head.
3. ⚠️ The upper floors are dangerous: more sway, more glazing, stronger fallout on the roof.
4. After the wave — down the stairs (do not use the lift) to the basement/car park, or to the middle floors.
5. Do not try to get down to the street and drive away — there is fallout outside.

I AM IN A BASEMENT

1. Move away from windows/light wells, lie down, cover your head.
2. After the wave — stay. You are already in the best place.
3. Check the exit: is it blocked? Find a second one.
4. Check for the smell of gas. If there is gas — leave.
5. Collect water, switch on the radio, wait.

I AM FAR AWAY (a flash on the horizon)

1. Turn away, do not look.
2. Lie down or take cover — the wave may arrive weakened but still blow the windows in.
3. Determine the wind direction (smoke, flags, leaves, clouds).
4. Go inside. Fallout will reach you in tens of minutes to hours if you are downwind.
5. Switch on the radio and listen.
6. Start preparing the shelter (see 2.6): you have time that those closer in do not.

Signs that you are in a fallout zone

• Fine sand/ash settling on surfaces, cars, water.
• The sensation of "dusty rain" without rain.
• "Black rain" — rain mixed with particles (it occurred at Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
• A sharp rise in the dosimeter reading.

⚠️ The absence of all these signs does not guarantee safety. Only an instrument gives the answer.

What NOT to do in the first minute

STAGE 5. THE FIRST HOUR

The ranked algorithm

The order is built around how fast each threat kills, not around the familiar schemes.

STEP 0 (0–10 sec). Am I alive? Can I breathe? Can I move?
   → No → call for help, whistle, bang on something. Do not waste strength shouting.

STEP 1 (10 sec – 2 min). IMMEDIATE KILLERS AROUND ME
   □ Fire in my room? → leave
   □ Building collapsing, cracking, sagging? → leave
   □ Smell of gas? → do not switch on lights, do not make sparks, shut it off, ventilate, leave
   □ Smoke, cannot breathe? → get low, to the floor, damp cloth, leave
   □ Downed cables? → do not touch, go around
   → If YES to even one item: get to a safe place, then continue.

STEP 2 (2–5 min). MASSIVE BLEEDING (your own and other people's)
   Signs: blood spurting / pulsing / rapidly soaking through clothing /
   a pool growing in front of your eyes.
   → Direct pressure with the palm straight onto the wound, HARD, without letting go.
   → If it is a limb and it does not stop: TOURNIQUET above the wound, tight, until it stops,
     write the TIME of application on the forehead/tourniquet.
   → Pack a deep wound with cloth/bandage into the wound + pressure.
   ⏱ A person with arterial bleeding dies in 3–5 minutes.

STEP 3 (2–5 min). AIRWAY AND BREATHING
   □ Unconscious → put them on their side (recovery position),
     tilt the head back, clear the mouth
   □ Not breathing → cardiopulmonary resuscitation, if there is someone to do it
     ⚠️ In a mass-casualty disaster, CPR for traumatic arrest is almost hopeless;
        resources are better directed at those who can be saved
   □ Penetrating chest wound, "sucking" air → cover with plastic/tape
     on three sides (a flutter valve)

STEP 4 (5–15 min). GET TO SHELTER
   → This is the MOST IMPORTANT decision of the first hour (FEMA's direct formulation:
     "the greatest number of lives is saved in the first 60 minutes through sheltering").
   → The nearest massive building. Down, or into the core.
   → Walk, do not run (running = injuries, disorientation, wasted breath).
   → Take with you: water, first-aid kit, torch, radio, documents — if that
     takes less than 60 seconds.
   → Help those beside you who can walk to get there.

STEP 5 (15–30 min). DECONTAMINATION AT THE ENTRANCE
   → Remove outer clothing and footwear BEFORE entering the living area (removes up to 90 %)
   → Bag it, take it out
   → Wipe down/wash (see STAGE 9)
   → Change into clean clothes
   ⚠️ Do not linger outside for the sake of "proper" decontamination.
      Inside first, cleaning afterwards.

STEP 6 (30–45 min). ORGANISE THE SHELTER
   □ Close windows, doors, ventilation, switch off the air conditioning
   □ Tape up the gaps (tape, sheeting, wet cloths)
   □ Move to the most protected place in the building
   □ Build up mass around you (books, furniture, water) — by safe means only
   □ Shut off the gas
   □ Arrange lighting (torches, not candles)
   □ Arrange a toilet (bucket + bags) IN ADVANCE, before it is needed

STEP 7 (30–60 min). WATER
   □ Draw water FROM THE PIPES while there is still pressure: bath, buckets, pans, bottles
   □ Drain the water heater (having disconnected its power)
   □ Do not use water that has been standing in open containers outside
   □ Cover every filled container with a lid or sheeting

STEP 8 (within the hour). COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION
   □ Switch on an AM/FM radio, find a working station, write down the frequency
   □ Send an SMS (they get through more often than calls when the network is overloaded)
   □ Write in your notebook: the time of the detonation, the direction of the flash, the wind direction,
     the dosimeter readings
   □ DO NOT drain the phone battery on endless attempts to get through

STEP 9 (within the hour). HELPING THE OTHERS
   □ Count the people
   □ Treat wounds and burns (see STAGE 13)
   □ Warm those who are in shock or wet
   □ Appoint someone to watch for fire/smoke/CO
   □ Let in those who ask (after decontamination at the entrance)

Why this particular order

Confidence: high — the order matches FEMA PG 3rd ed. and the MARCH principles.

⚠️ Conflict of priorities: helping the injured versus sheltering

This is a hard decision. Guidance:

• If you are already inside and the casualty is just outside (5–10 metres) — drag them in, it takes seconds.
• If the casualty is far outside and fallout is falling — you will most likely destroy yourself without saving them. That is harsh, but it is so.
• If fallout has not yet started (the first 10 minutes) — help; you have a window.
• A casualty who cannot be moved is covered with whatever is available and the spot is marked.

Mass-casualty triage (simplified)

If there are many casualties and limited help:

This is the hardest part of a disaster. It exists in real protocols and it is not cruelty — it maximises the number of survivors.

STAGE 6. THE FIRST 24 HOURS

The central principle

STAY. If you are in adequate shelter, the correct action for the first 24 hours is not to move.

FEMA PG 3rd ed.: "Those sheltering should not self-evacuate earlier than 24 hours after the detonation unless directed by the authorities... The first 12 hours are especially critical because of the high dose rate and the uncertainty of the fallout zones."

The three pillars of radiation protection: TIME, DISTANCE, SHIELDING

TIME

Dose = dose rate × time.

Cut the time spent in the field and you cut the dose proportionally.

• Out for 10 minutes instead of an hour → you receive 6 times less.
• Waited 7 hours instead of 1 hour → the dose rate has fallen by roughly a factor of 10.
• Waited 2 days instead of 1 hour → by roughly a factor of 100.

In practice: any excursion outside is planned in advance and executed at speed against a list, with no improvisation. "Going out for a look" is an unaffordable luxury.

DISTANCE

The intensity from a point source falls with the square of the distance (twice as far = four times weaker).

⚠️ But fallout is not a point source — it is an extended layer on a surface. For such a source the inverse-square law does not apply directly: what matters more is how much contaminated area is "visible" from where you are.

What actually works:

• Moving 2–3 metres in from the exterior wall — a noticeable effect.
• Being a floor lower than a roof covered in fallout — a large effect.
• Going down to the basement (earth shields from all sides) — a very large effect.
• Moving a few metres away from a local "hot" patch (an accumulation of dust, a downpipe, a puddle) — a large effect.

SHIELDING

See the halving-thickness table in 2.5.

Quick reference:

⚠️ The values in this table are empirical reference points for real structures, already allowing for scattered radiation. They are systematically lower than a naïve halving-layer calculation gives (see 2.5). Do not recompute them "by the formula" — you will get an inflated and dangerous estimate.

Where to move in the first 24 hours

The FEMA rule on moving between shelters

FEMA gives specific guidance:

• People in very poor shelter (PF ≈ 2 and below) inside the dangerous-fallout zone can reduce their dose by moving early to adequate shelter (PF > 10).
• Such a move must take no more than 30 minutes outdoors, and must be away from ground zero.
• For people in somewhat better shelter (PF ≈ 4) the gain is substantially smaller and the permissible time outside is shorter.
• People in shelter with PF > 10 should stay inside.

Confidence: high — a direct citation from FEMA PG 3rd ed.

DECISION TREE: stay or move

I am in shelter. Less than 24 hours have passed.

1. Is the shelter safe? (no fire, collapse, gas, CO)
      NO  → move to the backup shelter (see 2.21)
      YES → item 2

2. How good is my shelter?
      BASEMENT / UNDERGROUND CAR PARK / CORE OF A LARGE BUILDING (PF > 10)
            → STAY. Not open to discussion. At least 24 hours.
      FLAT IN A PERMANENT BUILDING, interior room (PF ~5–10)
            → STAY, unless there is a basement in THE SAME building.
              If there is a basement in this building → move down to it (that is 2 minutes)
      TIMBER HOUSE WITH NO BASEMENT / CABIN / TENT / CAR (PF ~1–3)
            → item 3

3. Is there a clearly better shelter within 10–15 minutes on foot?
      NO  → stay, move to the centre of the house, build up mass, wait
      YES → item 4

4. How long since the detonation?
      < 15 minutes (fallout has not yet arrived) → GO IMMEDIATELY
      15 min – 1 hour (fallout is falling, the dose rate is at its peak)
            → ⚠️ A hard decision. FEMA permits a move at PF≈2
              if it takes ≤30 minutes outdoors and leads AWAY from ground zero.
              Cover the skin, respirator on, walk fast, do not stop.
      1–24 hours → The later the move, the safer it is.
              If your shelter is PF≈2 and there is a basement nearby — go.
              If in doubt — wait for the decay (every hour of waiting
              lowers the dose rate).
      > 24 hours → see STAGE 42 (the three-day plan)

5. Do you have a dosimeter?
      YES → measure the dose rate inside the shelter.
           Record the value and the time. Repeat every hour.
           If the value is rising → fallout is still arriving, sit tight.
           If it is falling → decay is under way, keep waiting.
      NO  → act by the clock: wait at least 24 hours.

PRINCIPLE: moving from poor shelter to good shelter is justified only if
the move is short and certainly leads somewhere better. Moving blind in the first
hours can kill you more reliably than poor shelter will.

Comparison of shelter types for the first 24 hours

What to do during the 24 hours inside the shelter

The first 2 hours

• Organise the space: where people sleep, where the toilet is, where the "dirty zone" is, where the food is.
• Count the people and the resources. Write it down.
• Appoint someone on fire/CO watch.
• Find a radio station, write down the frequency.
• Start a log: time, events, dosimeter readings.

Hours 2–8

• Treat wounds and burns.
• Set up a drinking regime: ration from the start, do not wait until it runs out.
• Organise sleep in shifts.
• Decontaminate everyone who has been outside.
• Insulate, or conversely provide ventilation against overheating.

Hours 8–24

• Economise on light and batteries.
• Listen to the radio to a schedule (for example, 10 minutes every hour) — to save batteries.
• Draw up a plan for the next 24 hours.
• Keep the children occupied.
• Do not open external doors unnecessarily.

Water rationing in the shelter

⚠️ Do not economise on water in fever, diarrhoea, burns or blood loss — that hastens death. ⚠️ Do not drink less than 1 l/day for more than 2–3 days under any circumstances.

STAGE 7. RADIATION: UNITS, INSTRUMENTS, INTERPRETATION

7.1. Four different things that all get called "radiation"

Confusing them is the source of most dangerous mistakes.

Key relationships (learn these)

1 Sv   = 1000 mSv = 1,000,000 µSv
1 Gy   = 100 rad
1 Sv   = 100 rem
1 rem  = 10 mSv
1 R (roentgen) ≈ 1 rem ≈ 10 mSv  for gamma radiation and the whole body
1 R/h  ≈ 10 mSv/h
10 R/h ≈ 100 mSv/h = 0.1 Sv/h   ← the FEMA "dangerous fallout" boundary

FEMA PG 3rd ed. explicitly uses the simplification: 1 R of exposure ≈ 1 rem of whole-body dose ≈ 1 rad ≈ 10 mSv. For fallout gamma radiation this is acceptable.

Confidence: high — for gamma radiation and uniform whole-body exposure. For alpha and neutron radiation the Gy↔Sv relationship is different (a weighting factor of 20 for alpha, 2–20 for neutrons).

For gamma radiation, Gy and Sv coincide numerically

For gamma and beta radiation the weighting factor is 1, so 1 Gy = 1 Sv. In the fallout scenario they can be treated as the same thing. For alpha radiation (only when taken internally) 1 Gy = 20 Sv.

7.2. Why Bq and Sv cannot be compared

A common and dangerous error: "500 Bq/kg in milk — is that a lot or a little?"

Becquerels tell you how much radioactive material is there. Sieverts tell you how much harm it will do to you.

The conversion between them depends on: * which nuclide it is (caesium, strontium, iodine all differ); * whether it has got inside you or is irradiating you from outside; * the person's age (children receive a greater dose from the same quantity); * how much of it you have eaten.

Practical reference: the Codex Alimentarius (FAO/WHO) sets, for trade in food after a radiological accident: * 1000 Bq/kg for the sum of Cs-134 + Cs-137 ("other foods"); * 100 Bq/kg for Sr-90 and I-131; * separate, stricter levels for infant food.

Confidence: high — these are the official international levels. National standards (Japan after Fukushima, the EU, the US FDA) differ, sometimes several-fold, because they build in different assumptions about the fraction of contaminated food in the diet.

7.3. Reference dose scale

⚠️ There is no "safe threshold" below which the risk is zero. The international consensus (ICRP) works from the no-threshold assumption: any dose adds some additional cancer risk. What follows is a scale for understanding orders of magnitude, not permission to receive these doses.

⚠️ Combined injuries: when radiation is combined with trauma and burns, the lethal dose falls. FEMA: the lethality of a 4 Gy dose in people with concomitant injuries corresponds to roughly 2.5 Gy in healthy people.

7.4. The dose-rate scale — a table for interpreting a dosimeter

⚠️ This is not a "safe/dangerous" table. It is a "how long can I spend here" table.

The main formula:

Accumulated dose = dose rate × time

How to calculate quickly in your head

Dose rate 1 mSv/h → 1 mSv in 1 hour.
Dose rate 100 mSv/h → 16.7 mSv in 10 minutes; 100 mSv in an hour.
Dose rate 1 Sv/h → 16.7 mSv in 1 minute; 250 mSv in 15 minutes (the rescuer limit).

The "250 mSv" rule:
  Permissible minutes = 250 / (dose rate in mSv/h) × 60
  Example: 500 mSv/h → 250/500 × 60 = 30 minutes.

Keep this calculation on paper in the shelter.

⛔ AN IMPORTANT WARNING ABOUT THE NUMBER 250 mSv. This is not a "safe dose" and not permission to accumulate it. 250 mSv (25 rem) is an EPA guideline for professional rescuers voluntarily going to save other people's lives, fully informed of the risk. It is an upper bound for an exceptional task, not a budget for everyday errands.

For ordinary decisions ("should I go for water") work to values 10–50 times smaller, and be guided by the principle: every dose carries risk; take the minimum needed for survival. Use the formula to understand the order of magnitude of the permissible time, and then take a quarter of it or less.

7.5. Instrument types — what to choose and what to believe

7.6. How to measure correctly

Dose rate (where it is dangerous)

1. Hold the instrument at chest or waist height, vertical, detector facing away from you.
2. Stand at least 1 metre from walls, ground and objects (otherwise you are measuring one point, not the field).
3. Wait for the reading to stabilise (10–60 seconds for a GM counter; the lower the field, the longer).
4. Record: the value, the unit, the time, the place.

Contamination (is this thing dirty)

1. Hold the instrument with the window/detector towards the surface, 1–2 cm away, without touching (or you will contaminate the instrument).
2. Move it slowly, 2–5 cm/s.
3. Compare with the "background" in a clean place.
4. ⚠️ Wrap the detector in thin cling film — it protects the instrument from contamination and barely affects gamma (but reduces sensitivity to beta).

Checking water and food

A domestic dosimeter will only detect heavy contamination. The "direct measurement" method: 1. Measure the background in a clean place and write it down. 2. Place a container of the food/water (at least 1 l) hard against the detector. 3. Measure for 5–10 minutes, averaging. 4. If the reading is reliably above the background — the product is contaminated, find a replacement. 5. ⚠️ If the reading equals the background, that does not prove it is clean. Domestic instruments cannot sense levels of the order of hundreds of Bq/kg.

Confidence: high — domestic dosimeters are fundamentally incapable of reliably measuring food contamination levels; that requires spectrometers with lead shielding.

7.7. Saturation and false confidence

⛔ This can kill you.

The saturation (fold-back) effect in a Geiger counter: at very high intensity the tube cannot recover between pulses. The instrument reads lower and lower as the real field rises, all the way to zero.

How to recognise it: * The readings fall as you approach the suspected source. * The readings are "stuck" at one value. * The instrument is silent where every other sign says it should be dirty.

What to do: 1. Know your instrument's upper limit. Write it on the casing. 2. When approaching any unknown place, watch the trend, not the absolute number. 3. At any strange behaviour from the instrument, assume it is dangerous here and leave. 4. Carry two instruments of different types if you can.

Other sources of false confidence:

7.8. If you have no dosimeter at all

Act by time and rules, not by how things feel:

1. Assume you are in a fallout zone if the detonation was within 30 km and the wind is towards you.
2. Sit tight for at least 24 hours, preferably 48–72.
3. All excursions short, against a list, with the skin fully covered and decontamination on entry.
4. Eat and drink only from sealed sources.
5. Listen to the radio — the authorities (if there are any) will announce the zones.
6. Look for a dosimeter as a priority resource (see STAGE 44).

STAGE 8. RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT AND ITS DECAY

8.1. Where fallout comes from

A surface (or near-surface) burst: the fireball touches the ground, vaporising and sucking up thousands of tonnes of soil, concrete and metal. Radioactive fission products condense onto those particles. The cloud rises for kilometres and the particles then fall back.

An air burst (the fireball does not touch the ground): there is almost no local fallout, or many times less, because the radioactive products have nothing to condense onto — they go into the stratosphere and fall out globally over years at low concentrations.

Confidence: high — this is the key physical fact. Buddemeier/LLNL: "If the warhead is detonated in the air, the fallout potential is greatly reduced or eliminated."

Practical conclusion: a strike on area targets (a city) is more often an air burst → little local fallout but enormous destruction. A strike on hardened targets (missile silos, bunkers, ports) is a surface burst → maximum fallout. In a large-scale war there will be both.

8.2. How fallout is distributed

Zone sizes (for orientation, ~10 kt, surface burst)

Per FEMA PG 3rd ed.: * The dangerous fallout (DF, > 10 R/h) zone: extends 16–32 km from ground zero; near ground zero in the first 4–6 hours levels above 100 R/h are possible. * The zone above 0.01 R/h (10 mR/h) — the "hot zone" — may extend hundreds of kilometres in the first hours. * ⚠️ For a detonation 10 times larger (100 kt) the damage zones grow by roughly a factor of two, not ten. The fallout zone grows more than that.

Confidence: high for 10 kt; scaling to megatonne weapons gives zones several times larger — the specific figures depend heavily on the scenario.

⚠️ How much time there really is before fallout arrives

The "10–15 minutes and more" estimate (LLNL/FEMA) applies to a typical point in the fallout zone at some distance from ground zero. The reality:

Confidence: medium — the specific timings depend on yield, burst height and the speed of the winds aloft, and may differ several-fold.

⭐ Practical conclusion: do not count on "I have 15 minutes". Assume you have as much time as it takes to reach the nearest adequate shelter, and not one minute more. The closer you are to ground zero, the smaller the margin.

8.3. The 7–10 rule and the decay law

Statement

For every sevenfold increase in the time since the detonation, the dose rate falls by roughly a factor of 10.

The physical basis

The decay of fission products is approximately described by the Way–Wigner (1948) power law:

R(t) = R(1) × t^(-1.2)

where R(1) is the dose rate 1 hour after the detonation and t is the time in hours.

Decay table (adapted from Glasstone & Dolan, The Effects of Nuclear Weapons, 1977; reproduced in FEMA PG 3rd ed.)

Taking the dose rate at 1 hour as 1000 arbitrary units (R/h).

Where the rule applies

✅ Applies: * After fallout has completely settled at the point in question (usually after a few hours to a day). * To the mixture of fission products from a nuclear detonation. * Over the interval from roughly 30 minutes to 6 months after the detonation.

Accuracy (per Glasstone & Dolan, cited by FEMA): * within ±25 % — out to about 2 weeks; * within a factor of 2 — out to about 6 months.

Confidence: high — this is an official citation from FEMA PG 3rd ed.

⛔ Where the rule does NOT apply

⚠️ The most important warning

FEMA warns directly:

"Significant decay does not necessarily mean low radioactivity. The initial level may be so high that the residual radioactivity remains dangerous even after several days."

Example: if it was 1000 R/h at 1 hour, then after 2 weeks it will be ~1 R/h (≈10 mSv/h). That is 1000 times less — and it is still a level at which 240 mSv accumulates in a day.

8.4. Worked examples (purely to understand the mechanics)

⚠️ These examples do not allow you to predict your actual situation. They only teach you to calculate.

Example 1: working backwards

Given: 3 hours after the detonation the dosimeter reads 20 mSv/h. Question: what to expect after 24 hours?

From the table: at t=3 h the relative level is 230; at t=24 h it is 23.
Ratio: 23/230 = 0.1
Answer: roughly 20 × 0.1 = 2 mSv/h at 24 hours.

Check against the 7–10 rule: 3 h × 7 = 21 h ≈ one day; the level has fallen by a factor of 10. It agrees.

Example 2: how much will I accumulate if I stay

Given: 6 hours after the detonation, the shelter reads 0.5 mSv/h. Question: how much will accumulate over the next 18 hours (up to the 24-hour mark)?

Integrating the power law t^(-1.2) gives:

Dose over the period = R(1)/(-0.2) × [t2^(-0.2) - t1^(-0.2)]
                     = 5 × R(1) × [t1^(-0.2) - t2^(-0.2)]

First find R(1): R(6) = R(1) × 6^(-1.2)
6^(-1.2) ≈ 0.1165  →  R(1) = 0.5 / 0.1165 ≈ 4.29 mSv/h

Dose from 6 to 24 h = 5 × 4.29 × [6^(-0.2) - 24^(-0.2)]
6^(-0.2) ≈ 0.6988 ; 24^(-0.2) ≈ 0.5296
= 21.45 × 0.1692 ≈ 3.6 mSv

Conclusion: over 18 hours in this shelter about 3.6 mSv will accumulate — not much. But outside, at PF=1, it would be 10–20 times more.

Example 3: the price of going outside

Given: at 12 hours it is 5 mSv/h outside and 0.25 mSv/h in the basement (PF=20). Question: what does a 30-minute excursion cost?

30 min outside: 5 mSv/h × 0.5 h = 2.5 mSv
The same 30 min in the basement: 0.25 × 0.5 = 0.125 mSv
Cost of the excursion: 2.5 - 0.125 ≈ 2.4 mSv

Interpretation: 2.4 mSv is roughly a year of natural background. A reasonable price for water or medicine, an unreasonable one for curiosity.

Example 4: when will it be "like it was before"

Strictly speaking — never completely, because of Cs-137 (30 years) and Sr-90 (28.8 years). But:

The 7-10 rule from 1 hour:
  ×7    = 7 hours     → 1/10
  ×49   = 2 days      → 1/100
  ×343  = 2 weeks     → 1/1,000
  ×2401 = 100 days    → 1/10,000
  ×16807 = 2 years    → 1/100,000 (by now a badly overstated estimate of the decay;
                        in reality it levels off on the long-lived nuclide plateau)

Practical answer: the main danger of acute exposure passes within 2–4 weeks. What remains after that is the problem of contamination of soil, water and food by long-lived nuclides — a task for years and decades, solved not by sheltering but by the choice of food and territory.

8.5. What to do with this knowledge in practice

8.6. Hot spots — where it is dangerous even months later

⚠️ Avoid or clean up:

What to do: strip the top layer locally (with a spade, into sacks), take it away or bury it deep somewhere aside; cover with a clean layer; do not raise dust; work in a respirator and gloves; decontaminate afterwards.

STAGE 9. DECONTAMINATION

9.1. The "I HAVE BEEN OUTSIDE" procedure

Principle: get inside under protection first, clean up afterwards. Do not stand outside brushing yourself down.

STEP 1. AT THE ENTRANCE (dirty zone), 30–60 seconds
  □ Brush yourself down / sweep yourself off (better, have another person do it
    with a brush or cloth, standing upwind)
  □ Take off your shoes. Leave them in the dirty zone
  □ Hold your breath / do not inhale while brushing off

STEP 2. REMOVING CLOTHING (porch / hallway / separate room), 2–3 minutes
  □ Remove SLOWLY, without shaking, turning it inside out
    (contaminated side inwards)
  □ Do NOT pull clothing off over the head — CUT it off with scissors
    (otherwise you drag the dirt across your face and hair)
  □ Put it in a heavy-duty sack and tie it shut
  □ Take the sack AS FAR AS POSSIBLE from people (another room,
    the stairs, outside the door, out of the window)
  □ Do not touch your face with your hands until you have washed them
  → This removes UP TO 90 % of the radioactive material (CDC/Ready.gov)

STEP 3. WASHING, 5–10 minutes
  If you have water:
  □ A WARM shower (not hot — hot water opens the pores and increases
    absorption; not cold — it washes off less well)
  □ PLENTY OF SOAP, gentle strokes from top to bottom
  □ ⛔ DO NOT SCRUB UNTIL THE SKIN IS RED, do not use stiff brushes, scrubs
    or abrasives: damaged skin lets contamination inside
  □ HAIR: shampoo. ⛔ NO CONDITIONER — it binds particles
    to the hair (a direct CDC instruction)
  □ Pay particular attention to: hair, behind the ears, neck, armpits, hands, UNDER THE NAILS,
    skin folds, feet
  □ COVER wounds and grazes with waterproof film/plaster BEFORE washing
  □ Wash from top to bottom so dirty water does not run over clean skin

  If water is scarce:
  □ Wet wipe / damp cloth. Wipe ONCE in one direction,
    turn the wipe over, do not rub back and forth
  □ Order: face → neck → ears → hands → other exposed areas
  □ Used wipes into the sack

  If there is no water:
  □ Dry cloth, wipe down. Comb the hair and then
    dispose of the comb
  □ Sticky tape on skin and hair — it genuinely collects particles

STEP 4. FACE AND MUCOUS MEMBRANES
  □ Eyes: rinse with clean water or saline, from the inner corner
    outwards. ⛔ Do not rub
  □ Nose: blow your nose carefully into a tissue (keep the tissue —
    it indicates what you have inhaled), rinse the nostrils with water
  □ Mouth: rinse with clean water, SPIT IT OUT, do not swallow. Brush your teeth
  □ Ears: wipe the outside. ⛔ Do not push cotton buds deep inside

STEP 5. WOUNDS
  □ Irrigate copiously with clean water/saline (this is the main thing)
  □ Irrigate AWAY from the wound, not into it
  □ Remove visible particles with tweezers
  □ Treat with antiseptic, cover with a dressing
  □ ⚠️ The wound is dealt with FIRST, before general washing, and covered

STEP 6. CLEAN CLOTHING AND CROSSING OVER
  □ Put on clean clothing that has been kept in a sealed bag
  □ Move into the clean zone
  □ Wash your hands again

STEP 7. CHECKING (if you have a dosimeter)
  □ Measure the background in the clean room
  □ Pass the detector along the body at 1–2 cm
  □ Pay particular attention to: hair, shoulders, hands, feet
  □ If it is above background — repeat washing of the problem areas (no more than 2–3 times)
  □ ⚠️ If it does not fall after 3 attempts, it is probably internal
    contamination, or the instrument is seeing the background outside. Further rubbing is harmful

9.2. What you must NOT do

9.3. Decontaminating objects and spaces

9.4. Decontaminating animals

1. Gloves and a respirator for yourself.
2. Dry brushing/wiping first — it removes most of it.
3. Wash in warm water with shampoo, without conditioner.
4. Priority: paws and muzzle (the animal licks itself).
5. Ears — outside only, carefully.
6. Dry with a towel; the towel goes into a sack.
7. ⚠️ If the animal has eaten or licked contamination, that is internal contamination and there is nothing to be done in the field. Provide clean food and water.

9.5. Internal contamination — what can actually be done

⛔ There is no "anti-radiation pill", no "anti-radiation" diet, no agent that removes all nuclides. Iodine, vodka, red wine, bicarbonate of soda and activated charcoal do not protect against gamma radiation and do not remove caesium.

STAGE 10. POTASSIUM IODIDE (KI)

⚠️ KI is a narrowly specialised agent, not "the anti-radiation pill". Misunderstanding it is a source of lethally dangerous complacency.

10.1. What it does

The thyroid gland absorbs iodine from the blood without distinguishing ordinary (stable) from radioactive. Taking a large dose of stable iodine saturates the gland, and it stops absorbing radioactive iodine, which is then excreted in the urine.

This is called thyroid blocking.

10.2. What it protects against

✅ Only against radioactive iodine (mainly I-131, half-life 8.02 days) entering the body by inhalation or with food and water (especially milk).

✅ It protects only the thyroid gland.

Effectiveness: taken a few hours before, or within 1–2 hours after, radioiodine intake, it blocks more than 90 % of uptake. Effectiveness falls rapidly after 4 hours and is minimal 12 hours after a single contamination episode.

Confidence: high — FDA/REMM data.

10.3. What it does NOT protect against

KI is not a substitute for shelter. Shelter saves your life; KI saves your thyroid.

10.4. Dosages (per FDA guidance, reproduced by REMM/HHS)

FDA note: adolescents weighing ≥ 70 kg (150 lb) take the full adult dose of 130 mg.

Confidence: high — this is the official FDA table. ⚠️ WHO recommendations and those of other countries' national authorities may differ in thresholds and schedules (for example, WHO uses somewhat different age groups and thresholds). If your country has issued official guidance, follow it.

Available forms

• 130 mg and 65 mg tablets — they can be split to obtain smaller doses.
• Oral solution: usually 65 mg in 1 ml, with a dropper marked 1 / 0.5 / 0.25 ml.
• For small children a tablet can be crushed and mixed with milk, juice or water.

10.5. When to use it

Optimal timing: a few hours before radioiodine intake, or within the first 1–2 hours afterwards.

Repeat dosing

• A single dose is usually enough (it protects for about 24 hours).
• Repeat every 24 hours only if radioiodine intake is continuing and there is no way to evacuate or take shelter. The FDA permits repeat dosing for up to 7–14 days where contamination continues.
• ⚠️ The FDA does not recommend repeat doses for pregnant or breastfeeding women or neonates — neonates risk hypothyroidism. If repeat dosing is necessary, thyroid function must be monitored.

10.6. Contraindications and risks

⛔ Do not take it if you have:

• known allergy/hypersensitivity to iodine;
• dermatitis herpetiformis (Duhring's disease);
• hypocomplementaemic vasculitis.

⚠️ With caution (only where clearly necessary and, if possible, under supervision):

• nodular goitre with cardiovascular disease;
• multinodular goitre;
• Graves' disease (diffuse toxic goitre);
• autoimmune thyroiditis;
• taking medicines that affect the thyroid;
• severe renal failure (risk of hyperkalaemia).

FDA note: a seafood allergy does not mean an iodine allergy.

Side effects

Risk/benefit: for children and young people the benefit greatly outweighs the risk. For people over 40 the risk of thyroid cancer from radioiodine is low while the risk of side effects is higher — which is why the FDA recommends KI for them only at very high predicted doses (≥5 Gy to the thyroid).

10.7. ⛔ What you must NOT substitute for KI

Confidence: high — drinking tincture of iodine is described in the medical literature as a cause of poisoning.

10.8. Storage

• KI tablets: shelf life is usually 5–7 years; manufacturers often confirm that potency is retained for longer under correct storage (dry, cool, in the original packaging).
• Signs of deterioration: darkening, softening, an unusual smell.
• Solution has a shorter shelf life.

10.9. KI summary card

KI PROTECTS:      the thyroid gland from radioactive IODINE
KI DOES NOT PROTECT: against anything else

WHEN:   a few hours before, or in the first 1-2 hours after, radioiodine intake;
        on instruction from the authorities, or given an obvious release nearby

DOSE:   adults and adolescents >70 kg — 130 mg
        adolescents 12-18 and children 3-12 — 65 mg
        children 1 month - 3 years — 32 mg
        neonates under 1 month — 16 mg
        over 40 — only at very high doses

REPEAT: usually NOT needed. If it is — once every 24 h,
        NOT for pregnant/breastfeeding women or neonates

DO NOT TAKE IF: iodine allergy, Duhring's dermatitis, vasculitis

NEVER:  drink tincture of iodine, or eat iodised salt instead of KI

THE MAIN POINT: KI is not a substitute for shelter. Shelter saves your life.

PART III. BASIC SURVIVAL

STAGE 11. WATER

The rule of three: 3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food. But in a disaster people more often die not of thirst but of dirty water.

11.1. Hierarchy of water sources

From the safest to the most dangerous.

11.2. ⛔ THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT RADIOACTIVITY AND WATER

BOILING DOES NOT REMOVE RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL. IT CONCENTRATES IT.

The CDC's direct formulation: "You cannot make water that contains fuel, toxic chemicals or radioactive material safe by boiling or disinfecting it."

The mechanism: boiling kills microorganisms (protein denatures). Radioactive atoms are atoms; heat does not destroy them. As some of the water boils away, the concentration of dissolved radionuclides rises.

The same applies to chlorination, iodination and UV treatment — they act only on biology.

What actually removes radionuclides

Confidence: high for RO, distillation and ion exchange — these are EPA-confirmed technologies for removing radionuclides from drinking water.

A practical hierarchy of decisions about contaminated water

1. Find water that has not been under the open sky — that solves the problem completely.
2. Let the water stand for a day, decant the top third carefully, throw away the sediment — this removes most of the particles carrying radionuclides.
3. Filter it through several layers of cloth, sand, charcoal — this removes more of the particles.
4. Disinfect (boiling/chlorine) — this removes microbes.
5. If you have RO or a still — use it.

⚠️ An important reassuring fact: when fallout lands externally on a body of water, heavy dilution works in your favour. A river with a large flow dilutes fallout quickly. A stagnant pond or an open barrel does not.

11.3. Matrix of water treatment methods

⚠️ The key points from the matrix

1. No single method does everything. You need a combination.
2. A filter does not kill viruses. Filter + chlorine is a good pairing.
3. Chlorine does not kill cryptosporidium. Boiling or chlorine dioxide does.
4. Nothing except RO/distillation/ion exchange removes dissolved radionuclides and salts.
5. Nothing makes water containing petrol or solvents safe — such water simply must not be taken.

Recommended sequence in the field

1. CHOICE OF SOURCE (the most important step — see 11.1)
2. SETTLING for 12–24 hours in a closed container
3. DECANTING (pour off the upper part carefully, without stirring up the sediment)
4. PRE-FILTRATION through cloth/sand/charcoal (remove the turbidity)
5. DISINFECTION: boiling OR chlorine OR tablets
6. STORAGE in a closed clean container

11.4. Boiling — exact parameters

Per the CDC: * Bring clear water to a rolling boil and hold it for 1 minute. * At altitudes above 2000 m (6500 ft) — 3 minutes (the boiling point is lower). * Cloudy water must be filtered/settled first. * Let it cool naturally and store it in a closed container. * The taste is improved by pouring it from container to container (aeration) or by a pinch of salt.

Confidence: high

⚠️ Some sources (including a number of national guides) recommend 3–10 minutes everywhere. That is excessive: pathogens are killed at 70 °C within a few minutes; by the time the water boils it is effectively pasteurised. The discrepancy is explained by a safety margin, not by different science. Fuel is precious — follow the CDC.

11.5. Chlorination — exact dosages

What you can use

✅ Household bleach with no fragrance, no thickeners and no "care" additives, active ingredient sodium hypochlorite (NaClO). ⛔ Scented bleaches, "colour-safe", gel and oxygen bleaches — do not use.

CDC dosage (for 5–9 % NaClO bleach)

Contact time: at least 30 minutes. The water should smell faintly of chlorine. If there is no smell, repeat the dose and wait another 15 minutes.

⚠️ For 8.25 % bleach the CDC gives 6 drops per gallon (roughly 1.5 drops per litre).

Confidence: high — direct CDC data.

Alternatives

⛔ The hazards of chlorination

• ⛔ Never mix bleach with acid, vinegar, ammonia or toilet cleaners — chlorine or chloramine is released, and both are lethal in an enclosed space.
• ⚠️ Bleach loses activity: noticeable degradation within 6–12 months at room temperature. Replace it annually.
• ⚠️ Over-chlorination tastes unpleasant but is less dangerous than under-dosing. If clearly overdosed, leave it standing open, aerate it, or pass it through activated charcoal.

11.6. Solar disinfection (SODIS) — the no-resources method

For the "I have nothing" case.

1. A clear plastic (PET) bottle of up to 2 l, clean, label removed.
2. The water must be clear (filter cloudy water first). If you can read newsprint through a full bottle, it will do.
3. Fill it three-quarters, shake for 20 seconds (oxygenation), top it up, close it.
4. Lay it horizontally in the sun, preferably on a reflective or dark surface (metal, slate).
5. 6 hours under a clear sky; 2 days under full cloud.

Confidence: medium — the method is recommended by WHO for developing countries; it is effective against bacteria and viruses, less reliable against protozoan cysts, and completely ineffective against chemicals and radionuclides.

11.7. Distillation — how to do it

What it gives you: practically pure water from any liquid base (salty, contaminated with salts, radionuclides, most chemicals). What it does not give you: protection from volatile substances (alcohols, petrol, some iodine compounds) — they distil over with the water.

The simplest version on a stove

1. A large pan of water, with the lid domed side down (or an inverted lid).
2. Inside the pan, a stand with an empty cup on it (not touching the water).
3. Ice or a wet cloth on top of the lid.
4. Boil on a low heat. The condensate runs down the lid into the cup.
5. Output is small (a cupful in 20–40 minutes) and fuel consumption is enormous.

A solar still (no fuel)

1. A pit 1×1 m, 50 cm deep; a collection vessel at the bottom.
2. Spread contaminated water / damp greenery / salt water over the bottom around the vessel.
3. Cover the pit with clear plastic sheeting, weighting the edges with earth.
4. Put a pebble in the centre of the sheet, exactly over the vessel — the sheet sags into a downward cone.
5. Condensate runs down the sheet to the point of the cone and drips into the vessel.

Yield: 0.3–1 l/day per m² in a hot sunny climate. Confidence: medium — it depends heavily on the climate. This is an emergency source, not a primary one.

11.8. Storing water

11.9. Signs of dehydration and what to do

ORS recipe (WHO recommendation, simplified home version)

Per 1 LITRE of clean (boiled, cooled) water:
  • 6 level teaspoons of sugar (≈ 25–30 g)
  • 0.5 teaspoon of salt (≈ 2.5–3 g)
Stir until dissolved.

Check: the solution should be NO saltier than tears.
Too much salt is DANGEROUS, especially for children.

Confidence: high — this is the standard WHO/UNICEF home solution formula. Commercial ORS sachets are preferable, as they also contain potassium and citrate.

Dosage in diarrhoea: * Adult: 200–400 ml after every loose stool. * Child under 2: 50–100 ml after every stool, a teaspoonful every 1–2 minutes. * Child 2–10: 100–200 ml after every stool.

⚠️ Do not give in dehydration: large quantities of plain water without salt (risk of hyponatraemia), sugary fizzy drinks, juices (osmotic diarrhoea), alcohol, coffee.

11.10. Urine colour chart (field diagnosis)

⚠️ B-group vitamins turn urine bright yellow — that is not dehydration.

STAGE 12. FOOD

12.1. Hierarchy of food safety after fallout

From the safest to the most dangerous.

12.2. Radioactivity in the food chain

Three routes of entry

1. DIRECT DEPOSITION onto the surface of plants and food
   → The main route in the first days and weeks
   → Dealt with by washing, peeling, removing the outer layer
   → Especially dangerous for leafy vegetables and grass

2. ROOT UPTAKE from the soil
   → The main route over months and years
   → Cs-137 behaves like potassium, Sr-90 like calcium
   → Reduced by applying potassium and calcium fertilisers (competition)

3. VIA ANIMALS (grass → cow → milk/meat)
   → The fastest and most dangerous route for I-131
   → A cow eats grass from a large area and concentrates the nuclides in its milk

Pasture → milk: why this is critical

A cow eats the grass from roughly 50–100 m² a day. Iodine-131 passes quickly into milk (peaking 1–2 days after intake). This made milk the main route of thyroid exposure for children after Chernobyl.

What to do:

Confidence: high — these are the standard IAEA/FAO countermeasures applied after Chernobyl.

Mushrooms — a special hazard

Mushrooms (especially bay bolete, slippery jack, other boletes and brown roll-rim) accumulate caesium hundreds and thousands of times more intensively than the surrounding soil and remain contaminated for decades after fallout. Forty years after Chernobyl, mushrooms in a number of parts of Europe still exceed the limits.

⛔ In contaminated areas mushrooms are excluded from the diet for a very long time.

Confidence: high — repeatedly confirmed by measurements across Europe.

Indicative limits (Codex Alimentarius, FAO/WHO)

⚠️ National standards differ (Japan set 100 Bq/kg for Cs in general foods after 2012 — ten times stricter than Codex). The difference lies in assumptions about the share of contaminated food in the diet, not in the biology.

⚠️ In survival conditions these limits are often impossible to measure. Then the working rule is: choose foods low in the risk hierarchy and vary your sources. Eating constantly from one contaminated place is worse than eating a little from several.

12.3. Culinary decontamination

⛔ Cooking water, brine and soaking water must be poured away outside the living area; do not use them for soup and do not give them to animals.

12.4. Checking food without instruments

Characteristics by which radioactivity cannot be judged: appearance, smell, taste, colour, "tingling on the tongue". ⛔ Radiation cannot be sensed.

What you can assess without instruments:

12.5. Spoilage — a threat of equal importance

Food poisoning with no medicine available can kill. Signs that something has gone off:

⚠️ Botulism gives no smell, no taste and no change in appearance. The only defence is not to eat from bulging or suspect tins, and to preserve food correctly (see STAGE 26).

The USDA rule for a fridge with no power

• Fridge: food is safe for about 4 hours if the door is not opened.
• Full freezer: about 48 hours.
• Half-full freezer: about 24 hours.
• Food that has been above +4 °C for more than 2 hours (or more than 1 hour at temperatures above +32 °C) must be discarded if it is meat, fish, dairy, eggs or cooked food.
• ⛔ "When in doubt, throw it out" — USDA.

Confidence: high

12.6. Wild food — rules for survival

⚠️ Poisoning by plants and fungi kills faster than hunger.

Absolute rules

1. ⛔ Do not eat mushrooms unless you know the specific species with complete certainty. And even then — not in a fallout zone (caesium).
2. ⛔ Do not eat unfamiliar berries. Bright red, white or black berries on an unfamiliar plant are high risk.
3. ⛔ Do not "taste-test" plants to check them. The universal edibility test takes a day and does not protect against lethal poisons (aconite, hemlock, water hemlock).
4. ⛔ Do not eat plants growing beside roads, landfills, industrial zones or farm fields — accumulation of heavy metals and pesticides.
5. ✅ Get an illustrated identification guide for your region in advance.

Lethally poisonous plants confused with edible ones (temperate latitudes)

Lethal mushrooms

Confidence: high. ⛔ Rule: in a disaster, with no doctors and no haemodialysis, mushroom poisoning = death. Mushrooms are not worth the risk.

Relatively safe wild plants (temperate zone)

Provided you recognise them with confidence and they are not from a contaminated area:

⚠️ All wild plants in a fallout zone should be treated as contaminated, especially perennials and those growing in woodland.

12.7. Diet under scarcity

Cheap sources of vitamins without industry

• Sprouts (wheat, peas, lentils, mung beans) — in 2–4 days dry grain becomes a source of vitamin C and B vitamins. ✅ The best way to avoid scurvy in winter.
• Sauerkraut — vitamin C survives for months.
• Pine-needle infusion — pour 1 l of boiling water over 100 g of needles, infuse for 2 hours, drink a glass at a time. An antiscorbutic known since the 18th century.
• Rosehips — very high vitamin C content, dries and stores well.
• Animal liver — vitamin A, B12, iron. ⚠️ The liver of polar bears and some predators is ⛔ toxic because of excess vitamin A.

STAGE 13. MEDICINE

⚠️ This section is not a substitute for training. A first-aid course (8–16 hours) gives you more than a hundred pages of text. Take one before the catastrophe. ⛔ This document deliberately does not teach complex surgery, anaesthesia or invasive procedures. Attempting them without training kills the patient.

13.1. Order of priorities: MARCH

The modern trauma protocol (adopted in tactical medicine and increasingly in civilian practice):

M — Massive haemorrhage → Massive bleeding
A — Airway              → The airway
R — Respiration         → Breathing
C — Circulation         → Circulation, shock
H — Hypothermia/Head    → Hypothermia, head

Why bleeding comes before the airway: in blast and fragmentation injury, arterial bleeding kills in 3–5 minutes, faster than airway obstruction does in most casualties.

Confidence: high — MARCH is adopted in TCCC/TECC and in mass-casualty response guidance.

13.2. M — Massive bleeding

Recognition

• Blood is spurting or pulsing.
• Clothing soaks through as you watch.
• A pool of blood is growing.
• Amputation or partial amputation of a limb.
• The casualty turns pale, goes cold, becomes confused.

Algorithm

1. DIRECT PRESSURE
   → The palm (gloved) or folded cloth DIRECTLY on the wound
   → Press HARD, with your whole weight, do not let go for 3–10 minutes
   → Do not peek "to check": the clot is torn away
   → This stops most bleeding

2. IF IT DOES NOT STOP and it is a LIMB → TOURNIQUET
   → Applied ABOVE the wound, 5–7 cm closer to the trunk
   → Over clothing is acceptable
   → NOT over a joint
   → Tighten until bleeding stops COMPLETELY (this will be very painful)
   → WRITE DOWN THE TIME of application: on the tourniquet, on the casualty's forehead, on a slip of paper
   → ⛔ DO NOT loosen or periodically release it — that increases blood loss
        and causes a release of toxins into the bloodstream
   → Improvised tourniquet: a wide (≥5 cm) strip of cloth + a windlass stick.
     ⚠️ Narrow tourniquets (wire, cord, a strap) damage the tissues

3. IF IT IS NOT A LIMB (neck, groin, armpit, trunk) → WOUND PACKING
   → Pack the wound with bandage/clean cloth DEEP inside, down to the base
   → Keep packing until the wound is full
   → Then strong direct pressure on top for 3–10 minutes
   → Then a firm dressing over it
   ⚠️ Do not pack chest and abdominal wounds suspected of penetrating
      a body cavity — pressure on top only

4. HAEMOSTATIC AGENTS (if available)
   → A haemostatic dressing/powder is packed into the wound, then pressure
   → ⛔ Do not put powder into eyes or into the chest cavity

5. AFTER THE BLEEDING STOPS
   → Do not remove the dressing
   → Raise the limb above heart level (if there is no fracture)
   → Keep the casualty warm
   → Do not give fluids if surgery is possible; if no help is coming and they are
     conscious — small sips

Tourniquet time

⚠️ But: a tourniquet is applied to save a life. The limb is secondary. Do not remove a tourniquet out of fear for the limb.

⚠️ Removing a tourniquet after several hours can cause crush syndrome (release of potassium and myoglobin) with cardiac arrest and renal failure. Without medical support it is dangerous to remove a tourniquet that has been on for more than 2 hours. If no help is coming, this is a hard decision, and there is no right answer in the field.

13.3. A — The airway

13.4. R — Breathing

13.5. C — Circulation and shock

Signs of shock

• Pale, cold, clammy skin.
• Rapid weak pulse.
• Rapid shallow breathing.
• Anxiety, then confusion, then apathy.
• Thirst.
• Slow capillary refill (press a nail — it takes longer than 2 seconds to go pink).

Action

1. Lie them down, raise the legs 20–30 cm (if there is no pelvic/leg/head injury)
2. Stop the bleeding (the main cause)
3. KEEP THEM WARM: a blanket UNDERNEATH as well as on top. The ground/floor takes heat faster than air does
4. Do not give food
5. Fluids: small sips, if conscious and with no abdominal injury
6. Reassure them, talk to them, do not leave them alone
7. Check breathing and consciousness every 5 minutes

⛔ Do not give alcohol. ⛔ Do not warm with hot water bottles or heat (vasodilatation worsens shock).

13.6. H — Hypothermia

Hypothermia kills the injured even in warm weather. Blood loss + immobility + wet clothing = a lethal combination.

⛔ In hypothermia you must not: give alcohol, rub with snow, use a hot bath, make abrupt movements, or transport roughly.

13.7. Burns

Classification

Assessing the area: the "rule of nines" (adult)

The casualty's palm (with fingers) ≈ 1 % of their body surface — a handy field measure.

⚠️ Children's proportions are different: the head accounts for a substantially larger percentage.

First aid for a burn

1. STOP THE EXPOSURE: put out the flames, move them from the source, remove smouldering clothing
   ⛔ DO NOT pull off fabric that has stuck — cut around it
2. COOL IT: cool (NOT iced) water, 10–20 minutes
   ⚠️ For burns over 10–15 % of the surface, cool sparingly — risk of hypothermia
3. REMOVE rings, watches and bracelets BEFORE swelling starts
4. COVER: a clean dry non-adherent dressing, sterile cloth, or cling film
   (cling film is an excellent field option: it does not stick and it is transparent)
5. GIVE PAIN RELIEF
6. FLUIDS: with burns over 10 % the body loses an enormous amount of fluid.
   ORS, plenty, continuously
7. KEEP the rest of the body WARM

⛔ What you must NOT do with burns

When a burn is lethal (without a hospital, nearly hopeless)

• More than 20 % of body surface in an adult, more than 10 % in a child.
• An airway burn.
• A circumferential burn of a limb or the chest (it constricts and requires incision — only for the trained).
• Burns to the face, hands, feet, perineum or joints — a high risk of disability.
• Chemical and electrical burns.

"Beta burns" from fallout

Fallout particles on the skin deliver local beta irradiation. They appear after a delay of days to weeks: itching, redness, darkening, peeling, ulceration, hair loss in the affected patch.

Prevention is timely decontamination and nothing else. There is no treatment in the field: cleanliness, protection from infection, pain relief.

13.8. Wounds and infection

Wound care

1. Clean hands (gloves, soap, antiseptic)
2. Stop the bleeding
3. IRRIGATE COPIOUSLY with clean water under pressure
   → This is the MAIN step. Volume matters more than the "sterility" of the agent
   → 0.5–1 litre of boiled, cooled water per wound is normal
   → A syringe without a needle, or a bottle with a pierced cap, gives the right pressure
4. Remove visible foreign bodies (tweezers); do NOT dig around deep inside
5. Treat the wound edges with antiseptic (chlorhexidine, povidone-iodine, alcohol)
   ⚠️ Do NOT pour alcohol or iodine INTO the wound — it damages tissue and slows healing
   ⚠️ Hydrogen peroxide: it cleans but damages cells; use it only for the initial
      cleaning of a dirty wound, not for repeat dressings
6. Cover with a dressing. Change it when it soaks through, or once a day
7. DO NOT SUTURE contaminated wounds, bites, or wounds older than 6–12 hours
   → A sutured dirty wound = abscess and sepsis
   → Leave it open, pack it loosely, let it heal by secondary intention

Signs of wound infection

Sepsis — what to do without a hospital

Honestly: the chances are slim. What you can do:

1. Broad-spectrum antibiotics, if you have them (see STAGE 14).
2. Incision and drainage of an abscess (⚠️ a basic procedure, but it requires at least a minimal grasp of the anatomy).
3. Copious fluids, ORS.
4. Antipyretics.
5. Rest, warmth.

Tetanus

⚠️ Soil-contaminated wounds, puncture wounds and burns carry a tetanus risk. Mortality without intensive care is very high.

The only real protection is vaccination BEFORE the catastrophe. Boosters every 10 years. Check your vaccination status now.

Confidence: high

13.9. Fractures

Splinting — the rules

• Immobilise the joint above and below the fracture.
• A splint is any rigid object: a board, a stick, a rolled-up magazine, a ski pole, the other leg/arm as a splint.
• Soft padding between the splint and the body.
• Bind it not too tightly: check the fingers (colour, warmth, sensation) every 15 minutes.
• Keep the limb in a natural position. ⛔ Do not try to "straighten" a fracture.

13.10. Crush syndrome

The situation: a person is pinned under rubble for more than an hour.

The mechanism: potassium, myoglobin and acids accumulate in the crushed muscle. When they are released, these enter the bloodstream all at once and cause cardiac arrest and renal failure.

⚠️ The casualty can look fine under the rubble and die minutes after being freed.

What to do

Confidence: medium — tourniquet tactics in crush syndrome remain a subject of debate; only early and copious fluid replacement is beyond dispute.

⚠️ Without intravenous fluids and dialysis the prognosis is poor. Prepare realistically for the fact that severe crush injury in a world without hospitals is fatal.

13.11. Eyes

13.12. Amputations

⛔ This document does not teach how to perform amputations. Amputation without anaesthesia, sterility and the means to stop bleeding almost always kills.

What you can do

13.13. Acute radiation syndrome (ARS)

When to suspect it

The person has been outside in a fallout zone or near ground zero and has developed nausea and vomiting.

The key field indicator: time to vomiting

Confidence: medium — time to vomiting is used as a recognised field biodosimetry indicator (IAEA, REMM), but individual variation is wide, and stress by itself causes vomiting. Do not diagnose one person on one sign.

The four stages of ARS (per CDC)

1. PRODROMAL (minutes – 2 days)
   Nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, sometimes diarrhoea, headache, fever
   Lasts from a few hours to a few days

2. LATENT (hours – weeks)
   ⚠️ The person looks and feels HEALTHY
   The higher the dose, the shorter this stage
   This is the most deceptive phase

3. MANIFEST ILLNESS (hours – months)
   Bone-marrow form: white cells and platelets fall →
     infections, bleeding from the gums/nose/gut, bruising, hair loss,
     weakness. The peak of danger is weeks 2–6
   Gastrointestinal form: intractable diarrhoea (often bloody),
     dehydration, electrolyte disturbance, sepsis
   Cardiovascular/CNS: confusion, convulsions, coma, collapse

4. RECOVERY OR DEATH
   Recovery takes weeks to 2 years

Thresholds (CDC)

LD50/60 (CDC): approximately 2.5–5 Gy without medical care. FEMA: LD50 without treatment ≈ 4 Gy (footnote: some sources give 3.5 Gy). With medical care survival is possible up to ~6 Gy.

⚠️ The 2.5–5 Gy spread is explained by different assumptions about nursing care, state of health and the presence of concomitant injuries. The range is real; there is no single figure.

What can be done without a hospital

⚠️ An important point about contagiousness

A person with ARS is NOT contagious and NOT radioactive (once decontaminated). They can and should be held, fed and cared for.

The psychological aspect

Stress causes nausea and vomiting in large numbers of people who have received no significant dose. This is called "behavioural/psychogenic symptoms", and in real radiological incidents it accounted for most presentations. Do not panic, and do not spread panic to those around you.

13.14. Infectious diseases — the main long-term threat

In disasters more people die of diarrhoea and infection than of the primary effect.

Prevention matters more than treatment

13.15. Overheating

⚠️ In a shelter with no ventilation in summer, overheating can kill faster than the radiation outside. Watch the temperature in the room.

13.16. Special groups: pregnancy, infants, the chronically ill

⚠️ This section was added following the audit: without it the document gave averaged recommendations that were dangerous for some people.

Pregnancy and radiation

Confidence: medium — the specific thresholds differ between guidelines (ICRP, IAEA, national bodies); the general conclusion that the foetus is more sensitive is Confidence: high.

Practical rules for a pregnant woman:

• ⭐ Priority in allocating the best place in the shelter goes to pregnant and breastfeeding women and children.
• ⭐ KI: a dose of 130 mg, with the lowest threshold for use (see STAGE 10). ⚠️ The FDA does not recommend repeat doses — a risk of suppressing the foetal thyroid. One dose plus shelter and control of food.
• Increased requirement for water (+0.7–1.5 l/day), calories, protein, iron and folate.
• ⛔ Do not give: doxycycline and other tetracyclines, fluoroquinolones, metronidazole in the first trimester (where avoidable), NSAIDs in the third trimester.
• ⚠️ Dehydration and fever are dangerous to the foetus — rehydration is a priority.
• ⚠️ Childbirth without medical help is a serious risk. In advance, find someone in your group or nearby with obstetric experience, and keep the relevant literature (see STAGE 32: Where Women Have No Doctor).

Infants and children under 3

The chronically ill — who will be killed by the absence of medicines

⭐ This is the most predictable and most preventable group of deaths. Make the list now.

⭐ Action today: for every family member, write down on paper: the diagnosis, the drug, the dose, and what will happen on withdrawal. Discuss a 90-day supply with your doctor.

STAGE 14. THE FIRST-AID KIT

⛔ This document does not propose or describe synthesising medicines yourself. That is dangerous and pointless. ⚠️ All prescription medicines are obtained legally, on a doctor's prescription, in advance. Discuss an emergency stock with your doctor — many doctors understand this.

14.1. Level 1: CRITICALLY IMPORTANT

Without these, people die in the first hours and days.

14.2. Level 2: VERY USEFUL

14.3. Level 3: USEFUL

14.4. Level 4: SPECIALISED (prescription, on a doctor's orders)

⚠️ Obtain these only legally. Use them only if you understand the indications.

⚠️ Particular storage problems

14.5. Expiry dates — what actually happens

Confidence: medium

• Most solid dosage forms (tablets, capsules) kept in a dry, cool place retain a substantial part of their potency for years past the stated date. The SLEP programme study (USA, for strategic stockpiles) found that most preparations retained potency on average for more than 5 years beyond the expiry date.
• ⚠️ Exceptions where expiry is dangerous or renders the drug useless: old tetracycline formulations (risk of kidney damage — its relevance to modern preparations is disputed), glyceryl trinitrate, insulin, liquid antibiotics, eye drops (sterility), adrenaline, vaccines.
• ⚠️ Storage conditions matter more than the date: heat, humidity and light destroy medicines faster than time does.

Practical rule: expired painkillers or blood-pressure tablets probably work slightly less well. Expired insulin, adrenaline or an antibiotic for a life-threatening infection cannot be considered reliable.

14.6. What NOT to do with medicines

STAGE 15. SANITATION

Sanitation is the most underrated topic in survival. In historical disasters, diarrhoeal disease killed more people than the disaster itself.

15.1. The toilet

Hierarchy of solutions

The "bucket toilet" (two-bucket system)

Equipment:
  • 2 buckets with tight lids (20 l), one for urine, one for faeces
  • Heavy-duty bags as liners
  • A seat (it can be taken off the toilet or made from plywood)
  • Cover material: sawdust, ash, dry earth, sand, peat, cat litter,
    shredded paper

Procedure:
  1. Separate urine and faeces — THIS IS THE KEY POINT. The mixture smells many times worse
     and composts less well
  2. After each use, cover the faeces with a handful of cover material
  3. Keep the lid closed
  4. Change the bag when it is full, tie it, take it out
  5. Pour urine away separately. In a healthy person it contains few
     pathogens, but it is NOT STERILE; diluted 1:10 to 1:20 with water
     it serves as a nitrogen fertiliser at the root (not on the leaves)

Siting:
  • As far as possible from the eating and sleeping area
  • Water and soap for handwashing right beside it
  • A ventilated place

A pit latrine (long term)

Confidence: high — these are the standard WHO/Sphere requirements for field sanitation.

⚠️ The 30 m distance from water is not a recommendation but a requirement. Breaking it = an epidemic.

15.2. Handwashing — the number one measure

When

MANDATORY:
  • After the toilet
  • After changing a nappy / caring for a sick person
  • BEFORE preparing and eating food
  • After contact with waste, bodies, animals
  • After coming back from outside
  • After handling contaminated objects

How (when water is scarce)

A "tippy tap" — a washstand that uses 50–100 ml per wash:

1. A plastic bottle/jerrycan is hung neck down or on its side.
2. A small hole in the cap, or the bottle is tipped by a pedal/string.
3. Soap on a string beside it.
4. Water runs in a thin stream only while it is tipped.

Washing procedure: wet → soap → rub for 20 seconds (palms, between the fingers, backs of the hands, thumbs, nails, wrists) → rinse → air-dry or use a clean cloth.

With no water at all: alcohol hand sanitiser (≥60 % alcohol). ⚠️ It does not work on visibly dirty hands, nor against some pathogens (norovirus, C. difficile, spores).

Soap substitutes: ash (alkali), sand + water (mechanical), clay. ⚠️ Worse than soap, but better than nothing.

15.3. Laundry

⚠️ Saving water: wash the cleanest items first, then dirtier ones in the same water. Used water goes to flush the toilet.

15.4. Washing yourself

• Minimum: a wipe-down with a damp cloth every 1–2 days, concentrating on armpits, groin, feet and skin folds — the sites of intertrigo and fungal infection.
• The "soldier's shower": 2–3 litres of water. Wet → turn off → soap → rinse.
• Feet: wash them and dry them thoroughly every day. Wet feet in boots = trench foot and fungal infection, both of which put a person out of action.
• Hair: wash it less often, cut it shorter. A short haircut is a practical measure against lice and contamination.

15.5. The kitchen

15.6. Storing water

• Separate containers for drinking and utility water. Label them.
• Take drinking water out with a long-handled dipper or through a tap; ⛔ do not dip hands and mugs into the container.
• Keep containers covered.
• Wash and disinfect the containers every 1–2 weeks.
• Do not pour water back from a mug into the container.

15.7. Flies

A fly carries pathogens from faeces to food in seconds. Fly control = a direct reduction in mortality.

15.8. Mosquitoes

15.9. Rodents

Rats and mice carry leptospirosis, hantavirus, plague (via fleas) and salmonellosis; and they destroy stores.