[CONTINUING my series based on the articles, 'Medicine…]
Socialist Organiser1982 1982-02-25Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 12 →
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CONTINUING my series based on the articles, 'Medicine and the Bomb' in the British Medical Journal: -A nuclear attack on Britain would result in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of injured. Treatment of blast and fire victims would require resources unavailable even in peace-time (i.e. large supplies of blood, plasma, and skin grafts), let alone with most hospitals destroyed and medical workers dead or injured.
After about five days, the symptoms of radiation sickness would start to appear, demanding more blood and fluids to cope with the bleeding, vomiting and diarrhoea, as well as vast amounts of antibiotics to combat infections due to lass of white blood cells. le ibe abeesce of adequare tacticies. conades prerescale destin reduce casualties as as possible.
There are three ways of doing this:1. Evacuation of people from likely target areas, i.e. big cities. Civil defence plans write off attacked cities due to the impossibility of mounting rescue operations.
In response to this probl em, both Norway and the USSR have detailed plans for evacuating cities, while West Germany has partial evacuation plans. Even the USA has made a half-hearted gesture in this direction.
In Britain, however, people would be forbidden to move about the country or would be banned from using major routes.
2. Protection from blast, fire or fallout. Outside the firestorm zone. basement shelters or even just reinforced baildings could provect from blast The grealer Ref stone.
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West Germany plans to subsidise shelters in new buildings; the Netherlands require all new homes over two storeys to include a basement fall-out shelter; Norway has shelters for 60% of people; Sweden has shelters against blast. fire. fallour. chemical and biological meapons for 70% of people: Switzerland has sIEs for 90°: of perpde.
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Socialist Organiser, Thursday February 25, 1982 Page 13 Fighting for union democracy