Nuclear Attack

Identify your best shelter today. FEMA is specific about this: the safest place is a basement or the innermost room of a structurally sound building, without windows if possible, because more walls between you and the outside mean more protection. The CDC ranks the options: a multi-story brick or concrete building, or a basement, are best; but being inside any building is safer than being outside.

• Locate the basement or the innermost room at your home, your workplace, and your kids' school. The shelter that helps is the one where you already are.
• Keep a reserve of water and food for at least three days inside that space, because you won't be able to go out and buy more.
• Keep a battery-powered or hand-crank radio: it's the only way to get instructions if there's no power or cell service.
• Agree with your family in advance that everyone shelters wherever they are and that no one goes out looking for anyone else. Have that conversation beforehand, not during.
• Keep soap, shampoo, and resealable plastic bags on hand: they're your decontamination kit.
• If you take daily medication, keep a supply for several days inside the shelter.

1. If you see a flash, don't look at it: drop and cover. Civil-protection guidance is explicit: don't look at the flash or the fireball — it can blind you. The California Department of Public Health advises looking away, closing and covering your eyes, dropping face-down on the ground with your hands under your body, and staying that way until the heat and both shock waves have passed. FEMA adds that you should drop at the sight of the flash, to protect yourself from the blast and from flying debris.
2. Expect the shock wave to take time to arrive. If the explosion is far away, the shock wave can take 30 seconds or more to reach you. That interval is real time to take cover behind anything that offers protection. Don't waste it watching.
3. Go into the most solid building near you. Head toward the center of the building or the basement, away from windows, exterior walls, and the roof. The CDC explains it with simple physics: radioactive material settles on the outside of the building, so the more construction you have between that material and your body, the lower the dose you receive.
4. Decontaminate before you settle in. If you were outside, take off your outer layer of clothing before entering the clean area of the shelter. The CDC quantifies the benefit: removing your outer layer of clothing can remove up to 90% of radioactive material. Put it in a sealed plastic bag and keep it away from people and pets.
5. Wash yourself, but in a very specific way. Shower with warm water and plenty of soap. Use shampoo, never conditioner: the CDC explains that conditioner makes radioactive material bind to your hair. Wash gently — don't scald yourself, scrub, or scratch your skin — because damaged skin lets contamination in. Blow your nose carefully and clean your eyelids, eyelashes, and ears with a damp cloth.

How long you need to stay inside. The CDC advises staying sheltered for at least 24 hours; FEMA's guidance gives a range of 12 to 24 hours, unless a more immediate threat — a fire or a building collapse — forces you out sooner. In both cases the rule is the same: you don't leave until authorities say it's safe, except for a life-threatening condition.

• Keep the radio on: authorities will announce when and by which route to leave, and that route may not be the shortest one.
• If you have to go out for a life-threatening emergency, cover up as much as you can and decontaminate again when you get back.
• Don't consume water or food that was left uncovered outdoors. What's sealed and stored inside is what's safe.
• Once you're cleared to leave, follow the instructions about which areas to avoid: contamination isn't spread evenly or visibly.
• Seek medical attention if you had nausea and vomiting in the hours following exposure: it's a sign health care staff need to know about.

The family plan for this scenario has one huge difference from every other one on this site: here, the plan is not to go looking for each other. It's counterintuitive and hard to accept, but it's exactly what the agencies ask for, because going outside during the first hours is what turns a safe person into an exposed one.

If you have kids at school

Schools have shelter-in-place protocols, and the building itself protects them. Agree with your family today that no one runs to the school during the first hours, and confirm the school's own procedure. Explain it to the kids too: knowing the plan is "everyone stays where they are, we'll see each other after" reduces panic when the plan kicks in.

With older adults or people with disabilities at home

Identify now the interior room they can reach quickly and without stairs if needed, and keep their medications there. If they depend on electricity for medical equipment, that's a conversation to have with their doctor beforehand, not during.

An out-of-area contact

Agree on a contact in another city that everyone texts when they can. Local lines get jammed, and long-distance ones sometimes don't; a text message gets through where a call won't. That contact gathers the information and shares it around, so no one needs to go out to find out.

With pets

They come into the shelter with you. If they were outside during the radioactive fallout, clean them with water and soap before they share the indoor space, and treat their fur with the same care as your own hair: no scrubbing.

How to store it so it works when you need it

The CDC calls for approved food-grade containers with a tight-fitting lid, made of a sturdy, unbreakable material —never glass— and with a narrow mouth for pouring. An explicit warning: never use a container that has held toxic chemicals such as bleach or pesticides. And what almost everyone forgets: stored water should be replaced every 6 months. To disinfect the container before filling it, use a teaspoon of unscented household bleach per liter of water, wait 30 seconds, and pour it out.

What food to keep on hand

Ready.gov recommends several days of non-perishable food and gives a concrete list: ready-to-eat canned meats, fruits, and vegetables —and a can opener—, protein or fruit bars, dry cereal or granola, peanut butter, dried fruit, canned juices, and pasteurized long-life milk. The rule when putting it together is simple: food your family will actually eat, that needs no cooking, and that you can rotate before it expires.

• Keep the refrigerator and freezer closed: every time you open one, you waste hours of stored cold.
• Throw out any food that has touched floodwater, even if the container looks intact. This is an explicit Ready.gov instruction.
• Keep a manual can opener. It is the item people forget most, and without it your pantry is useless.
• If you buy bottled water, keep it sealed in its original container, in a cool, dark place.

When the cell network is overloaded: text, do not call

The joint FCC and FEMA guide explains why: "text messages may get through when your call does not", even if delivery is delayed when the network is congested. And it asks for something almost no one does: "limit non-emergency calls", because every call takes up space that emergency communications need. Also save a contact under the name "ICE" (In Case of Emergency), the convention rescue personnel look for on someone else's phone.

How to stretch your battery

The same guide recommends lowering screen brightness and turning off apps to conserve charge. In an emergency your phone stops being entertainment and becomes your only line to the outside world: treat it like your water supply.

The battery-powered radio is still irreplaceable

The FCC and FEMA recommend a battery-powered radio or a portable television to follow emergency bulletins during power outages. It is the only channel that depends on neither your electricity nor the cell network.

The alerts you already have and did not know about

In the United States, Wireless Emergency Alerts are free messages that go straight to your phone for severe weather, AMBER alerts, and threats to safety in your area. Two things worth knowing: you do not need to sign up —phones have supported them since 2012— and they are not affected by network congestion, so they get through when calls no longer do. Find out what the equivalent system is in your country, and do not mute it.

• Have at least one light source that does not depend on the grid: a battery-powered or hand-crank flashlight, or a rechargeable lamp.
• Charge phones and backup batteries before the forecast event arrives, not after the power is already out.
• Keep a list of important phone numbers on paper: if your phone dies, your contacts die with it.
• Agree with your family that after an emergency everyone texts the same contact instead of calling each other.

This is the section that decides who has a hard time and who has a dangerously hard time. An emergency does not suspend diabetes, high blood pressure, pregnancy, or dependence on an oxygen concentrator: what gets cut off is access to the pharmacy, the clinic, and electricity. Everything that follows needs to be prepared beforehand, because once the emergency hits, there is no more room.

1. Keep a reserve of your medications, and know which ones hold up. Ready.gov calls for a several-day supply of prescription medications. For those that need refrigeration, the CDC is blunt: once the power has been out for a day or more, discard any medication that requires refrigeration, unless its label says otherwise.
2. The insulin exception, worth knowing word for word. The FDA documents that insulin in the manufacturer's original vials or cartridges —opened or unopened— can stay unrefrigerated between 15 and 30 °C (59 and 86 °F) for up to 28 days and still work. It loses effectiveness at extreme temperatures, and the longer the exposure, the less effective it becomes. In an emergency "you may still need to use insulin that was stored above 30 °C" —that is better than not using it at all— but as soon as proper storage is available again, those vials should be discarded and replaced.
3. If someone depends on electric medical equipment, there is one step almost no one takes. Ready.gov says it explicitly: you can ask your power company to put you on a priority list for service restoration. That step is free, can be done on any ordinary day, and changes the order in which you get reconnected. Add a backup battery for an electric wheelchair and for any assistive device, and talk with your doctor about how to keep the equipment running during a power outage.
4. Keep a copy of medical information, not just the pills. A list of medications with dosages, allergies, diagnoses, doctors' contact information, and —for infants— the vaccination record. A prescription bottle cannot always be refilled at a pharmacy in another city; a written list can solve that.

Pregnancy and newborns

The CDC calls for prenatal vitamins and other medications in the kit, plus supplies in case delivery happens without being able to reach a hospital: clean towels, clean sharp scissors, a bulb syringe, gloves, two clean white shoelaces to tie the cord, clean sheets, sanitary pads, soap or alcohol, and garbage bags. For infants: diapers, wipes, ointment, bottles, and formula. One detail that matters: ready-to-feed formula is the safest option in an emergency, because it does not need to be mixed with water and comes in sterile, single-use containers.

Disability, reduced mobility, and older adults

Ready.gov stresses planning accessible transportation in advance for evacuating or getting around, and including a service or support animal with its food, water, and supplies. That plan should be worked out with specific, named neighbors, not left vague.

The blow that comes later: mental health

The CDC names the normal reactions after a disaster —fear, anger, sadness, worry, numbness, frustration, trouble sleeping, or nightmares— and recommends taking care of your body, staying in touch with other people, and taking breaks from the news. In the United States and its territories, the Disaster Distress Helpline is available 24 hours a day: 1-800-985-5990, with service in Spanish. Asking for help here is not weakness: it is part of recovery, just like repairing the roof.

1. Before you go back in: look, smell, and listen from outside. The CDC lays it out this way: if you smell gas or suspect a leak, shut off the main valve, open all the windows, and get out immediately. If there is standing water inside and you can cut the power from a dry spot, do it. And one simple warning that prevents explosions and fires: use battery-powered flashlights, not candles, gas lanterns, or torches.
2. Ventilate before you settle in. The CDC recommends going in briefly to open doors and windows, and letting the house air out for at least 30 minutes before staying inside.
3. Shutting off utilities: when to do it, and the mistake you cannot make. Gas has a rule with no exceptions: if you shut it off for any reason, only a qualified professional can turn it back on. Never turn it back on yourself. Electricity is shut off by switching off the individual circuits first and the main breaker last —the order matters, because an electrical spark can ignite gas if there is a leak—. Water should be shut off if pipes may have cracked, because that contaminates the house supply, and should not be turned back on until authorities confirm it is safe to drink.
4. Go back only when authorities say it is safe. It sounds obvious, and it is the instruction people break most often: go back home only when authorities say it is safe. Structural damage is not always visible from the street.

• Make a photo inventory of what is in each room today: it takes twenty minutes and is worth its weight in gold for a claim.
• Keep that inventory and your policies outside the house —in the cloud or with a family member— because a file that gets soaked along with the house is useless.
• If you have to leave, take your documents with you, not your furniture.
• Do not sign anything with a contractor while you are in shock: check the money section for the warning signs of fraud.

The documents you need to protect today

The official recommendation is to keep insurance policies, deeds, property records, and other important papers in a safe place outside the house. FEMA publishes the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit for this, organized into four sections: household identification, financial and legal documentation, medical information, and contacts. Its rule for paper: a fireproof and waterproof box or safe, a bank safe-deposit box, or in the hands of someone you trust. For digital files: password-protected files on an external drive or in secure storage outside the home. And if you pay everything online, print your account records periodically.

An emergency fund, even a small one

The CFPB avoids magic formulas: "the amount you need depends on your situation", but "even a small amount can provide some financial security". Its underlying argument is the one that matters: without that cushion, a single unexpected expense can grow far larger than the original bill through interest and fees, because it forces you to rely on credit.

This section calls for a warning before a list, because this is the scenario where the most money gets made off fear. Anything sold with a promise of personal shielding against radiation is fraud, and in this case the fraud can kill: someone who believes they're protected leaves shelter too soon.

What does have legitimate demand is what makes a shelter livable and what sustains a family confined for several days. It's essentially the same preparedness that serves for a blackout or a hurricane, which is precisely the honest sales argument:

• Battery-powered or hand-crank radios, the single most important item: without them, no instructions on when it's safe to leave ever arrive.
• Reserves of water and non-perishable food for several days inside the shelter.
• Soap, shampoo, wipes, and resealable plastic bags, which are the real decontamination gear.
• Self-powered lighting: rechargeable, hand-crank, and battery lamps.
• Sealing doors and windows of the interior room: tape, plastic sheeting, and weatherstripping.
• First-aid kit and a supply of chronic medications for several days.
• Shelter-in-place kits for schools, offices, and buildings, which are usually required to have a plan and almost never have the supplies.

It helps to start with one figure to size up what we're talking about: according to the ILO, informality affects nearly half of the employed population of Latin America and the Caribbean, around 47%, with huge differences between countries — under 30% in Uruguay and Chile, over 70% in Bolivia and Peru. For millions of families in the region, "looking for a job" and "starting something on your own" are the same sentence. What follows is not a promise of income: it is a map of what people actually do when a crisis hits, with the requirements and the risks laid out plainly.

Honesty requires saying this first: this is not a scenario worth building a business around "for when it happens." What does exist, and is legitimate and useful, is preparedness work — which also serves the far more likely emergencies — and the recovery work done afterward, with proper equipment and training, not improvised.

Preparing shelter-in-place spaces

Identify the interior room of a home, a business, or a school, seal it, stock it with water, a radio, light, and a first-aid kit, and leave the procedure written and posted on the door. This is a low-investment service you sell for what it actually is: preparedness for any emergency that requires staying inside — a chemical leak, a hurricane, a blackout — not for one single scenario. Schools, daycare centers, condo buildings, and small businesses are the natural market.

Radios and communication without the network

Sales, setup, and — what almost no one does — teaching people how to use them: tuning in to the area's official stations, testing the equipment periodically, keeping spare batteries on hand. In this scenario, the radio isn't an accessory: it's the only channel through which the order to leave shelter arrives.

Family preparedness training

Short workshops for families, condo associations, or businesses on what to do in emergencies that require sheltering in place. The material on this site and its downloadable guides serve as a base. You charge per session and it requires no inventory; what you're selling is clarity, which on this topic is far scarcer than any product.

United States — SBA disaster loans

For areas with a declared disaster. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) provides working capital for affected small businesses and nonprofit organizations; the physical damage loan covers losses not covered by insurance. Combined cap of $2 million, interest not exceeding 4% if you cannot obtain credit elsewhere, terms of up to 30 years, and the first payment deferred 12 months. There is also a line for homeowners (up to $500,000) and for renters for personal property (up to $100,000).

Mexico — what actually exists today

FONDEN stopped taking on new commitments on January 1, 2021. What operates today in emergencies is PAEAN, run by Civil Protection, and it is worth knowing exactly what it is and is not: it delivers relief supplies — food kits, water, blankets, roofing sheets, cleaning materials — when a state's own capacity is overwhelmed. It is not a reconstruction fund or a loan for your business. For capital, look at state, municipal, or development-bank programs, always verifying on the official website: fraud schemes that use its name circulate around these programs.

Brazil — Pronampe for micro and small businesses

A credit line for microenterprises (annual revenue up to 360,000 reais) and small businesses (from 360,000 to 4.8 million). The amount can reach up to 60% of the previous year's gross revenue for businesses with more than one year in operation, and up to 50% for new ones. The maximum rate is the SELIC rate plus up to 6% per year.

What the documented cases show. This section exists to replace rumor with measured evidence, in both directions: neither an inevitable catastrophe nor a minor event.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki — the proof that shelter works

RERF, the joint Japan–U.S. foundation, has followed a cohort of about 120,000 people since 1950, of whom about 94,000 are survivors. Two findings matter here. The first: the dose was cut in half for every additional 200 meters of distance from the hypocenter, and being inside a typical house reduced the dose by 50% or more. That's the historical evidence behind the instruction to get inside. The second, against fatalism: in that cohort, close to half of leukemia deaths and about 10% of solid tumors are attributed to radiation — about 1,900 cases through the year 2000 — while the rest of the cancers observed would have occurred anyway.

Chernobyl, 1986 — why potassium iodide exists

According to WHO, of the 600 workers present that night, 134 suffered acute radiation syndrome and 28 died within the first three months. The effect on the surrounding population was different and very specific: more than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed through 2005 among people who were children or adolescents at the time, because iodine-131 got into the air and, above all, into milk and leafy vegetables, and children drink a lot of milk. The IAEA estimates the total already attributable or projected over the lifetime of emergency workers and residents of the most contaminated areas at around 4,000 deaths, and notes that survival for those thyroid cancers has been close to 99%. The most-cited conclusion from the Chernobyl Forum is a different one: that the mental health impact is the largest public health problem unleashed by the accident to date.

Fukushima, 2011 — when evacuation does more harm than radiation

UNSCEAR concluded that no discernible increase in cancer rates attributable to radiation is expected, and that the rise in thyroid cancers detected in children is not a result of exposure but of ultra-sensitive screening that revealed abnormalities that previously went undetected. WHO is just as clear: there were no acute radiation injuries or deaths among workers or the public from the accident's exposure. And it adds the point that matters most for civil protection: that the evacuation process itself, especially under the conditions of a severe natural disaster, can pose serious health risks, with increased mortality among older adults relocated to temporary housing. Evacuating isn't free: that's why agencies ask you to shelter first and move only when told to.

Related guides on this site:

• Power outage — living without electricity, which is likely to happen alongside this.
• Supply crisis — the water and food reserve this scenario requires.
• Health crisis — when the health care system gets overwhelmed.
• Combined crisis — several emergencies at once, which is how they usually show up.