An attack by a foreign power with nuclear weapons has to be one of the worst things that could happen to the United States.
Even though it’s not likely that such a strike will happen, experts are still trying to get ready for it. According to a story in Business Insider, these six places are the most likely to be hit by a nuclear attack in the future:
- Chicago, Illinois
- Houston, Texas
- Los Angeles, California
- New York, New York
- San Francisco, CA
- Washington, DC
One expert on emergency preparation, Irwin Redlender, who is on the faculty at Columbia University, also says that the country is not even close to being ready for such a chance.
“There isn’t a single jurisdiction in America that has anything approaching an adequate plan to deal with a nuclear detonation.“
Redlener holds the opinion that those particular locations would almost certainly be the initial targets due to their status as intensely populated regions within the nation. In addition, each possesses a unique infrastructure that is deemed vital to the security of the United States.
Additionally, he highlights the fact that each municipality has failed to sufficiently provide substantial emergency-situational information, potentially leaving the populace uninformed regarding the most effective courses of action should such a scenario materialize.
Nevertheless, as physicist Brooke Buddemeier of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory explains:
“A little bit of information can save a lot of lives. If we can just get people inside, we can significantly reduce their exposure.“
Because of this, it is very important for people to start learning now about how to be ready for tragedies that might happen in the future.
Also, it’s important to know that those six towns are just the most likely ones to be attacked. Other places also need to be ready. What’s more, Redlener says:
“There is no safe city. In New York City, the detonation of a Hiroshima-sized bomb, or even one a little smaller, could have anywhere between 50,000 to 100,000 fatalities — depending on the time of day and where the action struck — and hundreds of thousands of people injured.“
One of the biggest problems he sees is that many big towns no longer have emergency bunkers, which are very important for staying alive in case of nuclear fallout.
In order for big towns to provide more affordable housing, emergency services have had to take up less room. People should start making plans right now, while there is still time. That’s because it will be much harder to stop a disaster once it starts.