Hawaii Prepares For Possible Nuclear Attack With Kid Gloves To Avoid Scaring The Public

Officials in Hawaii are preparing residents for the possibility of a nuclear attack by educating the people who live in the island paradise on what they need to do if by chance a North Korean missile falls somewhere within an area that would impact the Hawaiin Islands, according to the latest reports. The rhetoric has bumped up a few levels after Kim Jong Un taunted the use of these missiles by sailing them over Japanse territory on their way to the Pacific Ocean.

According to Fox News, the “stunning plea” of preparedness is coming from Hawaiin officials amid the “unnerving rhetoric — and actions — from North Korea.” The Islanders are instructed to prepare for a possible nuclear event the same as they would for an incoming tsunami.

According to the Washington Post, Hawaii officials are attempting to prepare the people of their state and at the same time, they are trying not to “scare the daylights” out of them and worry the tourists. Hawaii is “doing what it must” and that is to prepare for the possibility of a nuclear attack as North Korea sends its missiles soaring over the Pacific.

Balancing the task of getting the people of Hawaii prepared without scaring them is no easy feat. Word got out this week that officials held a “secret meeting” where the legislators and officials of the Hawaiin Islands met to discuss the probable impact effects of a nuclear event somewhere near the Hawaiin islands. The Honolulu Civil Beat reported that the group viewed slides which demonstrated “the probable impact of a nuclear blast at “at various altitudes above” the area of Pearl Harbor, according to the Washington Post.

This “secret meeting” is being referred to as a “closed meeting” among the officials of the islands. The reason the meeting was closed, cites State Representative Gene Ward, was to avoid any public worry. Ward suggested that making preparations for a possible nuclear attack might be surreal to the younger generation, more so than older adults and the baby boomers who grew up with fallout shelters in their backyards.

Baby boomers, which is a term referring to those who were born during the boom of births between the years of 1946 and 1964, grew up during an era when schools held nuclear attack drills. The same holds true for the elderly today, who were born before the baby boomer years, the threat of a nuclear attack was very real to the older adults who lived through that era.

The drills held in the classrooms around the nation referenced the bright flash of light that came before a nuclear blast. This light would signal students having just enough time to slide under their desks and cover their heads with their hands. As the Washington Post points out, ducking under the desk is a “useless refuge in the event of a thermonuclear bomb.”

So far the officials are asking the residents of Hawaii to be prepared with a 14-day food and water supply. If nothing ever happens when it comes to North Korea’s reckless bomb display, the food and water supply will at least have the residents prepared for any hurricane that may come their way, suggests officials.

So far, there’s no panic among the Hawaiin citizens. Talk of Kim Jong Un’s arsenal, or the direction North Korea has it pointed in, is not a subject of daily conversations with the residents, according to the Post. The officials of the Hawaiin Islands are encouraging “the public to consider preparation for nuclear attack as a hazard just like hurricanes and tsunamis.”

While the people of Hawaii are not showing any signs of heightened anxiety over North Korea’s missile roulette, it is still unsettling to some. State Senate President Ronald D. Kouchi also attended the meeting this week and he said: “It’s very unsettling. There are people who are concerned. … The best way to deal with it is to be prepared for any scenario.”

A document that was passed around at this meeting offered a list of frequently asked questions and answers. Just one of the questions and answers were enough to bring the surreal threat of a nuclear attack into reality. Below are just a couple of the questions and answers provided by the experts in the document that was handed out at this closed meeting among the officials of Hawaii, according to The Washington Post.

Q: I have heard that planning for a nuclear attack from North Korea is futile given most of the population will be killed or critically injured. Is that true?

A. No. Current estimates of human casualties based on the size (yield) of North Korean nuclear weapon technology suggests an explosion less than 8 miles in diameter. More than 90% of the population would survive the direct effects of such an explosion. Planning and preparedness are essential to protect those survivors from delayed residual radiation (fallout) and other effects of the attack such as the loss of utilities and communication systems, structural fires, etc.

Q. Are the neighbor islands safe?

A. We do not know. … Although most analysts believe the desired target will be Oahu given the concentration of military and government facilities, a missile may stray and impact the open ocean or even a neighbor island. All areas of the State of Hawaii must consider the possibility of missile impact.

According to this document, there are no designated shelters in Hawaii for a nuclear attack and the reason for this is — “The short warning time (12 to 15 minutes) would not allow for residents or visitors to locate such a shelter in advance of the missile impact.”

[Featured Image by Latonja Martin/AP Images]