When it comes to a nuclear attack, most Americans understandably worry about the most obvious effects: the blast, the fireball, and the radiation that rains down across a region afterward. But there’s another outcome that is perhaps even more ominous (at least for those living beyond the relatively limited blast radius: the Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP).

For those unfamiliar, an EMP is the burst of electromagnetic radiation that emanates from an airburst nuclear weapon. If detonated in the atmosphere at the right altitude, all electronic equipment within a several-hundred-mile radius would be impaired if not destroyed.

In other words, the electronic grid and every system that depends on it – electricity, food, water, waste treatment, communication, etc. – would immediately go offline. Furthermore, all modes of transportation – automobiles, aircraft, trains – would be rendered useless.

EMP blastAlthough deemed unlikely even for rogue states with nuclear powers (think North Korea and Iran), there are some who believe the threat is more serious than expected. Some have postulated that an enemy of the country could launch a nuclear device from a vessel just off a U.S. coastline, for example, effectively wiping out modern life support systems (e.g. power, food supply, clean water, etc.) for upward of a hundred million people.

Unfortunately, the existing power grid is not remotely prepared for an EMP event and, just as worrisome, it would take years to replace those systems and return power – and order – to impacted areas.

The End of Civilized Life

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to picture the ensuing chaos. Without electricity, all of the systems, services, and products that the tens of millions of people in the impact zone depend on would be non-existent. Societal collapse and chaos would ensue.

According to one U.S. government report, if the entire power grid was put out of commission, 90% of the U.S. population would die – from disease, starvation, and civil unrest – within 12-24 months. That’s nearly 300 million people.

Absent electricity and its civilizing effects, Darwinism, for wont of a better term, would soon kick in. Those with muscle, weapons, and aggressive tendencies would soon enough begin preying on weaker, less-prepared populations. Life would, as one expert put it, ‘become a living hell.’

For reasons like this, companies such as ARXStrong create safe rooms that also can act as Faraday Cages – an enclosure that protects its electronic contents from EMP radiation. We also provide biological support systems for longer-term living needs, including backup power for the storage, protection, and provisioning of food, water, clean air, and so on.

To learn more about EMPs and how ARX Strong can protect you, your family, or your business, contact us today.