‘Don’t Ask Me Why’: NYC Releases Video About What to Do in Case of Nuclear War

New York City’s latest public service announcement is all about how to survive nuclear war. It opens in a 3D rendering of a street filled with brownstones. There’s some rubble and the distant sounds of sirens. The sky is clear. “So there’s been a nuclear attack,” a woman says as she strides into the scene. "Don’t ask me how or why, just know that the big one has hit.”

The PSA’s advice, as far as advice on how to survive a nuke goes, isn’t bad. It keeps to three points. 

1. Get inside as quickly as possible. 

2. Stay inside, preferably in a basement, but as close to the middle of the building as possible.

3. Stay tuned to official channels on TV and social media and be sure to sign up for Notify NYC so you know when it’s safe to go outside.

This is, largely, the same advice I gave when I researched the topic back in 2020. If you’re outside during the initial blast, it’s best to take a shower with soap, water, and shampoo when you get inside. NYC mentioned this in its PSA. Critically though, do not use conditioners. The chemicals in the conditioner can actually bind to radioactive material and keep it in your hair.

This is, of course, advice for people living outside the immediate blast zone. Anyone within the initial blast radius of the detonation will be consumed by nuclear fire. How big is that blast radius? It’s wildly variable. If Russia’s SS-25 missile (it’s largest known nuclear warhead) detonated over Midtown Manhattan, everything from W. 30th to W. 52nd street and between 10th and 3rd Avenue would be gone. Vaporized. The resultant blast wave would smash into buildings as far away as Bloomfield, New Jersey, and the edge of JFK Airport.

A tactical, so-called low-yield nuclear weapon like some in Congress think the Pentagon needs, would have a decreased area of effect but would still kill millions. There’d just be fewer people in the initial blast zone. America’s B61 nuclear bomb can deploy a 50-kiloton blast that would irradiate an area the size of the SS-25’s blast zone but would only consume six or so blocks in hellfire. The blast wave would taper off somewhere near New York University and just barely touch New Jersey.

Staying inside, staying clean, and waiting a few weeks for the literal nuclear dust to settle is good advice. It’s also only worthwhile to the people who survive the initial blast. And in a case where “the big one” finally hits, it’s hard to imagine it’d be the only missile fired.