Cameron McCormick
Dr. Howard
English 1020
4/4/19
Rough Draft
Montgomery Alabama is home to about 200,000 citizens. Montgomery is also the state’s capital. Here in the city, you have state buildings, government buildings which include the governor’s office, and city official buildings. The normal day in Montgomery could be described just like any other day, kids would go to school, adults would go to work, you could go walking downtown by the river walk, or go shopping at the Eastchase shopping centers.
I chose the topic of nuclear disaster to advertise the fact that we are not prepared for a nuclear attack. With the possibility of nuclear attacks from all across the world, what would the population of Alabama do? Do we have safe areas near our cities? If people were contaminated by the radiation, where could people go for treatment, and where could a good treatment center be placed. What needs would people to take with them for the bare minimum. I believe that the human race would be at a complete loss and wouldn’t know how to react.
It would be hard to believe a nuclear attack would happen so close to home. People always so “it will never happen to us” until it actually does. In the event of a nuclear attack, I am proposing ways to prepare a fallout plan for people to go in time of need as well as finding medical treatment.
Here are some definitions that will help you throughout this paper. I got my definitions from dictionary.com.
-radiation: the process in which energy is emitted as particles or waves. (more will be added here)
During the advancement of technology in our time, there has been a new founded app known as “deepfake.” This app allows anyone to put a face on top of someone else’s face and make videos of that person doing whatever the person behind the app wants. While watching the news, there was a video of President Trump declaring that the United States does not want any affiliation with North Korea and disrespected the North Korean supreme Leader. This was a video that has been deep faked and President trump so happened to be the victim. After the video of fake President Trump went viral, it has made its way to North Korea who has been known to have advancements in nuclear warfare. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un responded with the threat of destroying the United States and has set up coordinates of where the major strikes would be. One of the strikes so happened to be in our hometown of Montgomery Alabama. This was not something to take lightly. When Korea made it known that this was a serious threat, there was only little time to find shelter, resources, and other ways to protect ourselves from what was coming.
In the event of a nuclear disaster, where would the people of Montgomery go? Here in Alabama there used to be fallout shelters during the Cold War when nuclear weapons were a threat on the United States. Since then most of the buildings that were considered safe have now been torn down or turned into something else. According to Jim little from AL.com, “Madison County, the location of Huntsville and Redstone Arsenal, is one of the only counties in the country with an active fallout shelter program.” How would this help the Montgomery area population? By the time we got the warning for the Nuclear threat, there would not be enough time to drive all the way to Huntsville for protection. The best protection around here we could possibly find would be in the basement of a house or inside of a reinforced building. The fact there is not a local fallout shelter around the Montgomery area is enough reason to build one or even inspect the buildings in Montgomery to be considered a fallout shelter.
To begin preparation for the attack I believe we need to start with where a good location of shelter would could be. Cresson Kearny has a book titled Nuclear War Survival Skills, and in chapter five of this book, it is stated that the best place for a shelter would be underground. The winds and toxins that are carried from the blast could protentional destroy the exterior of the building and allow all the toxic materials to reach the inside. The winds and blast could be unusually strong and could instantly cause a tall building to collapse on the people inside. In the hit television show, American Horror Story: Apocalypse, there has been a similar life changing event that affects the entire world as I am trying to warn people about. Nuclear weapons were being launched all across the world that will destroy life as we know it. In this television series, there have been chosen ones to be taken to a secret underground location where the nuclear blast and radiation cannot reach. In this bunker there is a process to get in if you were coming in from the outside to prevent the radioactive toxins from reaching the living quarters. In this bunker you were provided room, clothes, and all the basic needs like food and water while supplies lasted. When supplies got low, there was a time of rationing until there was a way the survivors could find a way to obtain more materials. In my vison, I plan to have a similar layout where I am able to house a few hundred people to protect them from the tragedy out in the world.
When the time does come, people will need treatment. I feel a treatment center would be best underground where most of the harmful air could not come in contact with anyone inside. For people who are coming to the shelter just for protection, the bare minimum that should be brought have been describe by Dave Mosherin his article “Fallout Protection: What to Know and Do about Nuclear Attack.” In this article it is explained to bring the basics of a real radio, small protein bars, water, and any medications needed. For patients that need medical attention, they can come to the shelter. Also from “Annals of Emergency Medicine” from Kristi Koenig, she has provided charts on exposure times and how to treat the reactions. In my shelter I plan to follow these charts to treat my patients.
A safe location for my treatment center would most likely be in a basement or an already underground storm shelter. A basement of a hospital would be the best location because I could move equipment from the hospital to help treat the ones who need it. The hospital itself would be a good place if we were able to fortify it from the outside. We could use the rooms for people to stay, and even use the medical rooms themselves to keep contaminated patients away from everyone else.
P.s. Please don’t judge me to hard on this because this was not one of my best works. I promise my final will be ten times better
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