With each passing day and each new launch of North Korea's ICBMs, fears of a possible attack on the continental United States increasingly capture the hearts and minds of Americans, especially in California. As The Guardian notes today, these fears even prompted a group of California public health and emergency response officials to gather for a strategic session and invite retired Lt. Col. Hal Kempfer to discuss which areas are the most likely targets and how citizens should respond to the attack.
Hal Kempfer, a renowned international security expert, is tasked by California public health officials and emergency response agents to think about what happens if the port of Long Beach, four miles away, explodes unthinkable nuclear bomb.
“Many people will be killed,” he said, “but most of the population will survive. They will be at risk and need help.”
"If you want to destroy southern California, if you want to destroy the west coast, if you want to spoil our country, where will you hit?" Kempfer asks. "If I were the commander of North Korea looking at possible targets, I would take a very close look at Long Beach."
He talks about the port and downtown of Long Beach being "toast" - literally, as the blast will likely vaporize everything in its immediate path. But the City Health Department, Long Beach Airport, and the fire department may survive; they are all somewhat protected by a hilly area that will likely stop the initial blast. And therefore, the city may, in advance, think about creating an emergency operations center.
Of course, the fallout from the explosion will pick up huge amounts of dust and ocean water and release them into the atmosphere. And this presents a secondary serious risk, especially in the first hours after the attack.
Not to mention the electromagnetic pulse that can shut down electronic systems, including phones and computers. Highways can be expected to be crowded as drivers will be blinded by the explosion, food, water and gasoline will be frenzied as millions of metropolitan residents seek to leave the region for fear of a second, subsequent attack.
In the meantime, do you think it was just a creative way for some civil servants to skip a day? Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, even took the unusual step of preparing a 250-page plan for how to respond to a humanitarian crisis that would result from a nuclear attack in Los Angeles.
Promotional video:
In fact, their efforts even include this really bizarre public service announcement that instructs people on how to arrange a shelter in their place and cover windows with plastic.
Of course, as we noted back in August, while a global nuclear confrontation is usually viewed as a terrible thing, for Ron Hubbard, president of Atlas survival shelters in Los Angeles, the situation has led to economic prosperity as a staggering number of Californians suddenly turned into survivors of the "doomsday".
