Click on the link below to be redirected to an EMP simulator. This will show the span of an EMP attack if such an attack were to occur in any place in the United States.
Effects of an EMP Attack on Human Life
- An EMP attack would not directly harm humans because our neurological system conducts electricity in a different way than electrical appliances do; however, an EMP attack could still indirectly affect humans, depending on the different circumstances that people are in when an EMP attack occurs.
Effects on Transportation
- If an EMP were to occur, airplanes within the region that the EMP hits will just fall from the skies, and thousands of people will immediately plummet to their deaths after just a nanosecond.
- Automobiles will stop, leaving people miles away from home. In addition to that, people who were driving on the streets would not be able to contact their families. The transistors in the vehicles as well as the whole power grid and telephone lines will have been irreparably damaged. They would have no way of getting home, and no way of communicating with their families.
- Depending on the location of subways during an EMP attack, some people may be helplessly trapped.
Effects on Healthcare Facilities
- Drastic effects of the release of an electromagnetic pulse will also be seen in hospitals and convalescent centers.
- With no power left, these places would eventually run out of resources and become incapable of providing services to preserve lives.
- Patients undergoing surgery and operations at the time that an electromagnetic pulse is released will have virtually no chance of surviving.
- Hospital backup generating systems would be rendered unusable, and people on life support will no longer be able to live.
- Food and water would become scarce.
- Medical staff and personnel would leave the hospitals because they would be incapable of doing their job. The only medical personnel that would remain at the hospital would be those people who live too far away to walk home (because that is all you can do - walk home- no vehicle operates anymore).
- People would not be able to get their life-sustaining medications and services, most of which are electrically powered.
What is the Fate of School Children and Teachers?
- An EMP attack will also lead to a drastic fate of schoolchildren, especially since these children are geographically isolated from their parents who have already commuted to work.
- Reuniting these children with their parents would be virtually impossible since the majority of Americans have a 30 minute commute or more to work (which means that their job is about 20 miles away).
- Teachers would also have a hard time, if not impossible time, reuniting with their families.
Effects on Communications
- An EMP attack will also impinge upon the means by which we communicate with each other.
- All cell phones, land lines, instant messaging mechanisms, all forms of social media, the internet, emails and faxes, and more will not work.
- Broadcast stations, especially television stations, will go off the air.
- Due to the high level of computerized automation, the equipment in most radio and television studios will be so completely destroyed that most commercial stations would be damaged beyond repair.
- Radio stations are more vulnerable to permanent damage than portable radio receivers are. For this reason, a limited number of critical radio stations are being retrofitted with some EMP protection in case the nation does experience such an attack. However, most of the population affected would still be without the benefit of mass communication, despite this installation of EMP protection on critical radio stations.
- In addition, somewhere between 250,000 to 500,000 people will die in the first few minutes after an EMP attack, and it is estimated that as many as 1 to 2 million people will be dead within three days of an EMP attack.
How an EMP Attack an Accelerate the Spread of Water-Borne Diseases?
- The effects of an EMP attack continue to grow progressively worse, The greatest threat to human survival during the aftermath of an EMP attack is the public’s availability to obtain clean drinking water. Access to clean drinking water will be greatly imperiled and jeopardized.
- For example, in 2010, six weeks after a major earthquake hit Haiti, killing over 200,000 people, it was announced that there was a cholera outbreak (which had not occurred in Haiti for over a century). This cholera outbreak caused the deaths of more than 8,000 people. This cholera outbreak came about because diseases such as cholera thrive in places where there is insufficient water treatment, poor sanitation, and inadequate hygiene. A similar result would be seen on an EMP- affected area due to the incapability of obtaining clean drinking water.
- Keeping drinking water clean and separate from human sewage and other contaminants will be a difficult challenge for humanity.
- Cholera and other water-borne diseases will prove to be some of the biggest threats to long term survival for humans.
- It is estimated that within 24 months following an EMP attack, most people would succumb to cholera and other water-borne diseases. This is all because effective sanitation will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to ensure after an EMP attack.
Effects on the Availability of Human Drinking Water
- Human water supplies will be made vulnerable after an EMP attack.
- Human beings require approximately 2 Liters of water per day in order to survive. If we receive significantly lower than this amount of water, we will die in approximately 5 days.
- The power to distribute water is highly concentrated within the United States.
- There are multiple technologies used to pump drinking water from a source to its final destination. Some of these technologies require no electricity; however, unfortunately, most of these technologies do rely on electricity.
- On the other hand, even if the water system was powered by non-electrical means, these systems would still be negatively affected because proper transportation would no longer be available for the drinking water, especially if the water has to travel across rugged terrain (for example, the water in Southern California must make it ways over mountains).
- The loss of electricity will cause human water supplies to be be less obtainable. This will eventually lead to casualty rates increasing from dehydration and from the civil disorder that would be present.
- In conclusion, in the aftermath of an EMP attack, the availability of water, as well as the safety of water would come into question for the vast majority of Americans.
- The availability of clean water supplies would be the most critical threat and would claim the most victims.
Effects on Availability of Food
- The food supply would be imperiled as well.
- The damage to electricity would also wipe out hydroelectric power as well.
- The absence of hydroelectric power would cause many food-growing regions in our country to not be able to receive water for their crops, and water is a vital factor in the growth of crops.
- This shows the drastic effects that water shortages have on our lives, proving that water shortages will be the greatest threat to our survival.
- With the absence of proper irrigation, our food supplies would dry up and disappear, thus exacerbating and worsening the threat.
- It is estimated that most people will die within 30 days of famine.
How to Survive an EMP Attack
- Planning and Preparation
- Nonperishable food items and water should be stored in a secure and accessible area. The amount of food and water needed should be based on the number of people in your family or group, keeping in mind that this is all of the food you will have until you are able to grow, trade, or collect more.
- Meet with your family or group and decide on somewhere to take shelter. This place should be easily accessible on foot, since there would be no other means of transportation available.
- Survival
- Be prepared for anything. For example, planes might fall from the sky, loose wires might shock someone, fires can spark from a surge, people might be rioting, and so on. Being prepared for anything can be tremendously helpful in many situations you may encounter.
- Use water to fill up bathtubs, glasses, cups, and any other object that can be used to store water.
- Limit opening refrigerators and freezers, to keep the contents as cold as possible, for as long as possible. Start by eating the foods in the fridge before those thawing in the freezer, because they spoil faster. When all of those foods are gone, being rationing the non-perishable foods and water, in order to prolong survival.
Is it Possible to Shield Against an EMP Attack?
- It is possible to shield electronic equipment from EMP radiation; however, this is extremely difficult.
- In order to protect electronic equipment from EMP radiation, the following must be done:
- The protected components must be completely enclosed in a copper shield. This is because even the smallest hole will allow the radiation to enter, and any wires extending outside the shield of copper will defeat the protection. This is to show how practically impossible this is.
- In the words of John Kappenman (chief adviser to the US EMP commission), it would require at least $1 billion to harden an estimated 5,000 power transformers around the country to shield from the impact of an EMP-like occurrence.
- Evidently, the occurrence of an EMP attack poses a huge threat to our society. The main recommendation is to spend anywhere between $20 - $200 billion to protect America’s critical infrastructure (i.e. the power industry, telecommunications). from an EMP. This would involve providing copper shields for the important electronic systems of America.
- Another recommendation by the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack (EMP Commission) is that the U.S. should “have vigorous interdiction and interception efforts to thwart delivery.”
- This would include a national missile defense. One missile could shut-down the entire United States, which is a powerful argument for missile defense.
Other Recommendations for Personal Protection
- There is not much we can do to shield our power grids from an EMP attack, and there is not much we can do to shield against an EMP attack since shielding against an EMP would require the shielding of all our electronic devices with copper, which would cost too much money and would be virtually impossible (because they copper shielding would not be able to have any holes in order to effectively protect devices from EMP's).
- It is recommended that we take steps to ensure our survival if such an attack were to occur.
- Making sure that we all are equipped with small emergency items, such as water reserves and stored non-perishable foods, will aid in our survival; however, these emergency supplies will eventually run out.
- If an EMP attack were to occur, America would enter the Nomadic Hunting and Gathering stage.
- Without the access of water, maintaining a pastoral society would not be possible.
- Water is the organizing foundation for any society. So, with the lack of access to water, society as we know it will collapse.