ElectroMagneticPulse IS CAPABLE OF CAUSING CATASTROPHE FOR THE NATION
First a disclaimer…I am not an expert on EMPs. I have done extensive research and you are invited to do the same. I am not going to try to educate you about the chemistry or physics involved in EMPs. I believe too much science for those who really just want the bottom line is too frustrating and I want as many people as possible to become aware of the dangers we may face. Over the next several weeks, or months, whatever it takes, I intend to discuss what the Federal Government EMP commission, scientists and the military consider a real threat. We will help you understand the dangers as well as the things we can do to minimize the effects in our own homes. We will also examine some ways to prepare to live a pioneer lifestyle should that become necessary.
Remember the guiding motto on our yahoo group: “Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more so that we may fear less” Marie Curie
“The high-altitude nuclear weapon-generated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is one of a small number of threats that has the potential to hold our society seriously at risk and might result in defeat of our military forces.
Briefly, a single nuclear weapon exploded at high altitude above the United States will interact with the Earth’s atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetic field to produce an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) radiating down to the Earth and additionally create electrical currents in the Earth.
The damage level could be sufficient to be catastrophic to the Nation, and our current vulnerability invites attack.
Depending on the specific characteristics of the attacks, unprecedented cascading failures of our major infrastructures could result. In that event, a regional or national recovery would be long and difficult and would seriously degrade the safety and overall viability of our Nation. The primary avenues for catastrophic damage to the Nation are through our electric power infrastructure and thence into our telecommunications, energy, and other infrastructures. These, in turn, can seriously impact other important aspects of our Nation’s life, including the financial system; means of getting food, water, and medical care to the citizenry; trade; and production of goods and services. The recovery of any one of the key national infrastructures is dependent on the recovery of others. The longer the outage, the more problematic and uncertain the recovery will be. It is possible for the functional outages to become mutually reinforcing until at some point the degradation of infrastructure could have irreversible effects on the country’s ability to support its population. ” (http://www.empcommission.org/)
I begin with the report generated by the National EMP commission because I want you to understand this is not just a theory of mine or a theory not based on research and facts. Our local power company is frantically preparing as they fear an attack will come before they can put protections in place.
A few weeks ago there was an EMP attack on the TV show 24 . It was delivered in a suitcase bomb and wiped out all electronic devices at CTU. Was that a realistic portrayal? Not really. The bomb wiped everything out, cell phones, telephones, computers, lighting, that was accurate, but the rate at which systems were restored was far from accurate. So what is the truth?
An EMP can best be described as a lightning bolt of magnetic particles. It is intense and lasts just a few seconds, if that. It will melt and destroy anything electrical that is not protected.
The EMP commission concluded that terrorist groups, rogue states, China, and Russia are theoretically capable of launching a catastrophic EMP attack against the United States and either had contingency plans to do so or were actively pursuing the ability. Iran, North Korea, China, and Russia have scientific and military research programs dedicated to or supportive of EMP capability, and their military documents describe EMP attacks against the United States.
There are two scenarios to be concerned about. EMPs are only effective at high altitudes or very low altitudes. A high altitude detonation over Kansas would affect the entire continental United States. A low altitude bomb, fitted as an EMP, could be launched from a vessel at sea, such as a cargo ship, and would affect a region but not the entire country.We all remember when the north eastern US went dark due to the domino effect of an outage in a part of the grid. The same would be true after a regional outage from an EMP.
High-altitude EMPs results from the detonation of a nuclear warhead at altitudes of about 40 to 400 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. A non nuclear EMP is an electromagnetic pulse generated without use of a nuclear weapon, close to the earth’s surface.
It is impossible to know exactly how much damage can or will be done. Best case scenario, the damage will be very localized (a suitcase bomb). This would mean the country as a whole could carry on as usual while teams worked to repair infrastructure and everyone headed to the store to purchase new appliances, phones, etc. Worst case scenario ( a nuclear device exploded in the upper atmosphere) we could have power out for months while the infrastructure was repaired and new appliances etc. were imported.
There are several major factors which determine the effectiveness of an EMP weapon. These are:
- The altitude of the weapon when detonated
- The payload and construction of the weapon
- The distance from the weapon when detonated
- Geographical topography
- The local strength of the Earth’s magnetic field
The danger is real and one we must plan for. There are ways to minimize the effects of an EMP attack and we will discuss those in a future post. What we need to do now is to begin a list of the things that we depend on for our daily comfort and safety that are operated with electricity.
Any item which has an electrical cord, antenna or modern circuitry will be affected. If you have a pace maker and are unfortunate enough to be near the origin of a low level (meaning low to the ground) EMP attack your pacemaker may be affected. EMP attacks are not physically dangerous to anyone else. The exception would be if you were in close proximity to an electrical appliance or power line that sparked, you may get burned.
The most frightening aspect of an EMP attack is that we will not see it coming. There will be no bomb to see as it will be exploded in the atmosphere, not upon hitting the ground. A low level bomb can be launched on a scud missile, and we know how fast they are and how easily they can be launched, from coverage of the war in Iraq. They will be upon us before we can react and shoot them out of the sky.
We will be adding items to our General Store this year meant to cope with the loss of electricity. There will be projects to build and ideas and skill to hone. Next week part 2. Till then join the discussion here and at our yahoo group.
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Wow! Really,really good post today. Looking forward to prepping with you for this. Thank you!
This is one of the reasons I like to have the standard old fashioned thermometers—quite a few of them.
I like the idea of multiple pairs of rubber gloves in case I need to wash clothes by hand. I would think mothers of babies and children still in diapers would keep plastic pants, pins, and at least one set of cloth diapers on hand in case trucks didn’t roll for months.
A good book that discusses the ramifications of an EMP is “One Second After” by William Forstchen – grim but eye-opening.
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I agree with JD that “One second after” is a very eye opening book. Many things I hadn’t thought of and hadn’t heard anywhere else in regards to EMP. I figure that if one is prepped for and emp or a major pandemic, you’re prepped for anything.