Headline: BREAKING: NORTH KOREA CLAIMS IT HAS DETONATED A HYDROGEN BOMB

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A magnitude 6.3 earthquake in North Korea early Sunday was likely the result of the country’s sixth nuclear test, media reports said.

North Korean state media claimed early Sunday that the blast was a test of a hydrogen bomb. The test was estimated to have a yield of 100 kilotons, meaning a blast that was four to five times more powerful than the explosion in Nagasaki, Japan in 1945.
Fox News | 3 Sept. 2017 | http://fxn.ws/2eRaPmh
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A local fellow active in a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) told me my postings on the subject of emergency preparedness are scaring people. Well, I hope this is true. My goal is to go beyond scaring you to motivate you to adopt an emergency-preparedness mindset.

What damage can we anticipate the detonation of a single 100-kiloton nuclear bomb? Consider the following magnitudes of distance from ground zero.

1 – the fireball would measure 3.6 miles in diameter
2 – the deadly 500 rem radiation dose would encompass an area 9.3 miles in diameter
3 – the thermal radiation (heat) would cause third-degree burns and widespread mortality throughout an area 95.76 miles in diameter

In the years of my youth, Civil Defense was the agency that promoted emergency preparedness throughout the USA. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the threat of nuclear annihilation was greatly lessened. Governments fell into complacency.

The family of nuclear nations has grown to include Israel, Iran, Pakistan, India, Russia, China, the USA, and North Korea. Last on this list is the current threat.

Disasters disrupt all manner of services from electrical power to water resources, from motor fuel shortages to empty grocery shelves. and even down to hospitals unable to care for patients.

Personally, I have no fear of chubby-cheeked Kim Jong-un and his nuclear arsenal. I fear the inevitable chaos, anarchy, and shortages of basic things to support day to day life.

Surely, you read news stories from Houston about armed looters that emptied stores and even fired upon rescue workers. Houston PD couldn’t even begin to answer calls for help.

What would you do for short-term food and water? How would you come to the aid of injured family, friends, and neighbors?

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the contemporary version of the old Civil Defense. FEMA provides a wide array of educational resources that are used to train citizens to come to the aid of fellow citizens who are victims of disasters. Trained citizens make up Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT).

Rockwall CERT will be hosting a two day FEMA Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Basic Training Class will be held on September 23rd & 30th. The class is conducted on two consecutive Saturdays from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm each day, and includes hands-on indoor and outdoor training. Course curriculum includes disaster preparedness, fire safety, controlling utilities, disaster medical operations, light search and rescue, introduction to the incident command system, disaster psychology, and terrorism response.

Sign up for CERT training by clicking on this link: http://www.rockwall.com/FireDepartment/cert.asp

Next, click on the icon that says Register Now!
or use this link directly – http://bit.ly/2iRTVZd

Being prepared isn’t just for the Boy Scouts.

John White
Rockwall, Texas