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Should you prepare for a Terrorist Bio or Nuclear Attack?

Posted on March 20, 2009

by Grandpa, ByeByeBigBrother.com

Personally we think the dangers of terrorist attacks are a lot of hype. All the security and government intelligence experts we know agree with us.

Unless you choose to live in a terrorist-prone zone, you are much more at risk from traffic accidents or even lightning strikes. This author once lived in Belfast during the ‘troubles.’ IRA bomb detonations were an everyday occurrence. After a while nobody thought twice about it. It was just a minor inconvenience. The odds in favour of survival there were pretty good. If you stayed out of the bars and meeting halls where youth gangs and other combatants were known to congregate, you were pretty safe.

That said, we thought we should include some ‘Be Prepared’ advice. Protecting your ass is definitely an essential part of the PT (Perpetual Tourist) lifestyle originally espoused by the late W.G. Hill. Here is some expert advice contributed by John Harper, a Security Consultant with the global consulting firm Geodex.

KEEP AWAY FROM TARGET AREAS

Don’t live or work in an obvious high priority target area or war zone. Where should you go? Resort towns (think ski or beach), would be unlikely targets. That is outside of Israel of course. The threat of robbery or kidnapping in many cities of Colombia is rather high, but the resort town of Cartagena is considered quite safe for tourists. For single PTs, it also happens to be full of available, beautiful ladies. And it’s cheap too.

Avoid living in prominent cities. Washington DC and London might be risky. Rural areas, with low population density, are not targets. Nobody would notice or care if a terrorist blew up a bomb in the middle of Iowa or rural Spain. Most of the neutral countries of the world are not likely to be targets. If there is a choice, don’t live in the Gaza Strip or in an apartment building next door to your local dictator’s palace.

It really is that simple. Stay away from target areas. It is not difficult to figure out target areas.

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION?

Forget everything you’ve ever seen on TV, in the movies or read in novels about this stuff – it was all a lie! Terrorist weapons are about terror. If you remain calm, you will probably not be killed or injured. Your prospects are far less scary than the media and breathless journalistic ‘experts’ make it sound.

A chemical weapons attack that kills a lot of people is incredibly hard – even for a well equipped military unit – to pull off. For terrorists, a crude bomb in a crowded place is much cheaper and more effective than gas, anthrax or typhoid spores.

To avoid bombs, stay off of crowded public transport in cities with globally unpopular governments. Avoid the higher floors of high-rise buildings, and don’t hang about crowded public places.

Nerve agents? You have these in your house. Raid insect spray is nerve gas. Spray it into your mouth, inhale deeply and you are a goner. Antidote for all nerve agents is atropine and pralidoxime chloride. Atropine comes as a gel in a little mini toothpaste size tube with needle attached. It can be self-administered as a shot in the thigh or the butt muscles. Neither one of these antidotes does anything to cure the nerve agent. They send your body into overdrive to keep you alive for five minutes. After that the agent is used up. You survive and are not permanently injured.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE INVOLVED IN AN ATTACK

If you smell new mown hay, green corn, something fruity, camphor or anything odd where it shouldn’t be, then calmly leave the area and head up wind. Or go outside! Fresh air is the best ‘right now antidote.’ Don’t panic – if you panic you breathe faster and inhale more air/poison.

If you get a blob of liquid on you that looks like molasses or Kayo syrup, blot it or scrape it off – away from yourself. Use a tissue, newspaper or anything disposable. It is similar stuff to what a crop duster uses to kill bugs and it won’t hurt you unless you stand there and breathe it in deeply. All you have to do is quit getting it on you or into your lungs. Put space between you and the attack.

Once again, go out into the fresh air. Hold a thick cloth, tissues or even the sleeve on your arm over your mouth and nose. Breath as little as possible till you get outside. Move slowly and deliberately. Above all, don’t panic.

Chemical weapons are intended to make people panic, to terrorize, to herd the enemy like sheep. Your odds are better if you leave the area. Soap, water, time and fresh air really deal all this stuff a knock-out-punch. Poison gas in the First World War was a horrific weapon only in the first attacks because weather conditions in Normandy were so perfect. Large numbers of men were concentrated in low lying trenches. If they came out they could be picked off by snipers. Foggy mist laced with mustard gas settled into the trenches. There was no fresh air and there was no wind. Many died. Once the troops were equipped with gas masks and could breath air filtered by activated charcoal, the gas was no longer a formidable weapon. If you want to be on the paranoid side, buy yourself a gas mask.

Nuclear bombs: If you see a flash, fall to the ground and stay there two minutes to avoid the coming blast. If you are not dead in the first two minutes, you will survive.

DON’T BE RULED BY FEAR

Don’t let fear of an attack rule your life. The odds are really on your side. Even if you live in Tel Aviv, New York City or Washington DC, you are far more likely to be laid low by the flu or a drunk driver than to be injured or killed in a terrorist attack.

Our advice? Don’t waste any time agonizing about terrorist attacks. Just get on with life. Your chances of being hurt are far less than the odds of your winning ten million in a lottery.

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