I was about to comment about how nuclear winter may not be as serious threat after reading the first few chapters of “Nuclear War Survival Skills” and then reading through the wikipedia section you linked.
On another note, why do you think 10 years of food, medication, and weapons would be needed when you also say that basic law and order would remain intact?
If there is basic law and order, then food and weapons should not be a hard requirement. I’m estimating that a large part of the population would not survive the initial attack, so food, even without modern fertilizers, should not be that hard to produce, at least in the US with all that rich land. Medication and medication for bartering—this makes sense, since manufacturing would likely take years to rebuild.
I said that about New Zealand (and probably countries outside of NATO, Russia and China in general). Canada may well have law and order intact as well, if we don’t get hit or only by a few warheads. I think commercial food availability might be restored before a decade, especially since we have more agricultural production capacity than we need, but it’s just to be on the safer side, especially since stockpiling non-perishable food really doesn’t cost much. Being so close to the US and sharing a massive border, we may be more destabilized than other non-attacked countries due to things like refugee flood etc.
Bottom line is: if you’re in the US, you need all those things I listed prepared in advance for sure. If you’re in some non-targeted country you probably don’t, but it may still be nice to have them just as a hedge in case of unexpected supply disruptions or upheaval.
I was about to comment about how nuclear winter may not be as serious threat after reading the first few chapters of “Nuclear War Survival Skills” and then reading through the wikipedia section you linked.
On another note, why do you think 10 years of food, medication, and weapons would be needed when you also say that basic law and order would remain intact?
If there is basic law and order, then food and weapons should not be a hard requirement. I’m estimating that a large part of the population would not survive the initial attack, so food, even without modern fertilizers, should not be that hard to produce, at least in the US with all that rich land. Medication and medication for bartering—this makes sense, since manufacturing would likely take years to rebuild.
I said that about New Zealand (and probably countries outside of NATO, Russia and China in general). Canada may well have law and order intact as well, if we don’t get hit or only by a few warheads. I think commercial food availability might be restored before a decade, especially since we have more agricultural production capacity than we need, but it’s just to be on the safer side, especially since stockpiling non-perishable food really doesn’t cost much. Being so close to the US and sharing a massive border, we may be more destabilized than other non-attacked countries due to things like refugee flood etc.
Bottom line is: if you’re in the US, you need all those things I listed prepared in advance for sure. If you’re in some non-targeted country you probably don’t, but it may still be nice to have them just as a hedge in case of unexpected supply disruptions or upheaval.