by Jonte Rhodes

Created on: August 22, 2008

An eventual nuclear war is how many people envisage the end of the world as we know it. And for the majority of the people in the world, this certainly would be the end of the world, although a very small minority is likely to survive the initial conflict at least. There are currently around 10 or so countries in the world that have nuclear capabilities, and more are researching the technology necessary all the time. This meaning that a nuclear war would certainly be a global war, and would affect every nation in the world.

The first step in surviving a nuclear war would be finding anywhere safe enough to ride out not only the explosions, but the nuclear fallout as well. Most economically sound countries have lead lined bunkers and hidden military facilities that would certainly be up to the task. However they would not only be warring nations first targets, but would likely also be reserved for top military and government personnel only.

So the best chance most normal people would have for survival would be that they were unaffected by the war in their particular region, or that they were incredibly lucky and found a safe enough place in time. The next problem after surviving the initial outbreak of the radiation would of course be the acquisition of supplies and essentials, most of which would be irradiated as well.

Given then society would probably break down with only a fraction of the population having survived, looking out for yourself would be the most important thing to do. The options would then largely be to either stay under the protection of the surviving military, or going alone and fending for yourself. Being under the protection of the military would probably be the easier of the two options, although there is always the chance that they might be targeted by remnants of other nations militaries. After all the fact that most of the worlds population has been killed might not necessarily see an end to the wars.

One of the biggest battles that you might face after having secured provisions and a place to stay would be boredom. The fact that the most modern nuclear weapons can irradiate the area that they strike for 10,000 years means that you might face the reality of having to live in a sheltered position permanently. This of course means that there is the risk of cabin fever and the onset of madness.

If the outside world were not too irradiated in your area, then even the ability to venture outside would present dangers. Finding food and other supplies in the outside and largely deserted world would eventually involve hunting for your own food. This of course isn't something that many people in the modern world can do, and you would have to adapt quickly to this new lifestyle. Finding weapons and other hunting implements would probably not be that difficult, but learning from scratch how to hunt effectively would be more difficult.

Without any people around to keep the populations of animals in check, they would soon overrun cities and towns and would generally become a lot more populous. This might make hunting them easier, but it would also make it more dangerous, because the largest predators would become a lot more common as well, for example bears or mountain lions.

The other thing to watch out for would be other survivors, both groups and individuals who might not be above killing and robbing you. In desperate times generally the people who survive are the ones willing to go further than any others, the kind of person who might shoot their neighbour to steal their food for example. So watching out for people who might want what you have would be something that you would need to be vigilant for.

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