Ballistic Missile Threat

As I watched the video of people running for their lives after the ballistic missile attack threat was broadcast in Hawaii, I cried. I think that was a video of a campus. The people thought they would die. I imagine my children running like that.  As I thought about it, I wondered what ramifications were evident even after the threat was exposed as false.

Jim Carrey said he thought he would be dead in ten minutes. At the moment I read that, I realized how soon people thought they would die without proper cover or a direct hit. I wondered how many people suffered even though the event never happened. I thought of my own situation.

Mostly, we on the mainland just breathed a sigh of relief and went about our lives. I did that at first. But, what happened when the people in Hawaii realized the attack was not going to happen right then? I wondered and was appalled.

How many people had or will have heart attacks from the anxiety and strain on their hearts? How many people have and will suffer more with their chronic conditions? I know that stress for diabetics can be unhealthy. Many other diseases cannot stand the stress of this kind of warning.

Did anyone commit suicide in the despair of an imminent attack? What kind of problems do psychiatrists hear that were caused by the news? Has anyone's life been derailed by the unfortunate mistake of the coming attack? How many people have gone off their diets or whatever measures they were taking to improve their health? Did people start drinking or doing drugs again? Did they just spin out of control with their already bad habits?

I wonder about the human social fallout. Do people not allow their children or families out of their sight? Are they anxious when everyone is not in one place? How do children cope?

I wonder if people are at a higher alert considering their homes or workplaces. Are people fortifying their homes? Will construction reflect more measures to avoid fallout? How many workplaces think about providing underground shelters? Will the area stand underground construction?

How many people have started supplying their home with food and water? Is the sale of Geiger counters rising? Has the sale of potassium iodide tablets risen?

At some point, at many points, I thought about how this news has affected us on the mainland far from Hawaii. It has only raised questions about my safety in case of a nuclear attack. I sit facing a wall of windows and have little chance of escaping the danger where I live in my house. I have a basement that is spacious, dirty, damp, and has many windows installed in the one foot thick rock walls. I doubt I would survive much better down there. Asthma would get me as soon as radiation! I am not capable of sufficiently covering the windows that sort of negate one foot of protection!

I don't have potassium iodide tablets. I wonder if Hawaiians have them on hand more than we do.

Don't say children are mostly too young to worry long term if their parents are calm. When I was four, I worried about the cold war.  This worry went on for years even though my parents assured me there would be no war. I wondered just how cold a war could be. How much cold would kill me? Then, when I was eight, I worried because we did not have a bomb shelter. These worries were not short-lived. They lasted for years, probably even to now, even to a time and space that I should not worry.

Are you prepared for a ballistic missile threat? Do you have a place safe from fallout? Do you have food and water stored? Do you have potassium iodide tablets and know how and when to use them? Of course, if you are prepared for natural disasters, you have some preparation for a ballistic missile attack.

There are a lot of questions in this post. What are your thoughts?

Are you prepared?