Pe We under Atomic Attach 5 . ; SURVIVAL” BP ies Niel” Nsnd” MICHIGAN OFFICE OF CIVIL DEFENSE : LANSING f2 General George C. Moran Adjutant General { Brig. General George B. E) Commanding other Michigan State Guard Lansing Brig, General Clyde E, Dougherty Director of Civil Defense Detroit = : 4 y aa Frank H. Burns Past President * Michigan Fire Chiefs Assn. , Fire Department id Rapids Chairman Battle Creek Enroll Now as a Volunteer at Your Local Civil Defense Office The information in this pamphlet on protection against atomic bombing is reprinted from the Federal manual “Survival Under Atomic Attack”. MICHIGAN CIVIL DEFENSE COUNCIL Governor G, Mennen Williams, Chairman Brig. General J. W. MacKelvie Civil Defense Advisory Committee a Ex-Officio Members Commissioner Donald S$. Leonard Michigan State Police |. Maitland State Director of Civil Defense J alle Members ~ Lt. Governor William C. vandenberg Dr. Albert E. Heustis Commissioner Michigan Health Department Lansing Col. S. L. A. Marshall Military Analyst The Detroit News Detroit Richard W. Rogers President ’ _Michigan Police Chiefs Assn. Chief, Police Department Midland Osage) yy obamone: During World War II Michigan developed one of the most efficient civil defense systems in the nation. Throughout the state, urban and rural communities, under central state con- trol, organized local defense groups to safeguard the citizens and protect the property in their respective areas in case of enemy air attack. Today there is a growing belief that war again may sweep the world. Should there be another global conflict the civil defense lessons we learned in World War I would stand us in good stead, but they would not be enough. As a center for the manufacture of the tools of war, Michigan once more would be a logical target for enemy bombs, but this time we would be faced with the possibility of atomic attack. Home front defense plans, already well advanced in Michi- gan, give consideration to the fact that not all Michigan cities and areas are primary targets. Nevertheless, any city or area subjected to attack by atomic bombs would need help from other communities. This means that the entire state, as a unit, must be organized for civil defense. Every citizen, whether or not he enrolls as a volunteer, must participate in the civil defense program. In an atomic war there are no spectators. Home front defense is everybody's job. The need to organize the state as a single civil defense unit, under which individual communities in the event of emergency will be prepared to help each other, can best be illustrated by the destructive and casualty inflicting potential of a single atomic bomb of the same power as those used in Japan, if dropped on a large Michigan community. From the point of detonation there would be total destatas tion within a radius of one-half mile. From one-half to one mile all structures would be damaged beyond repair. From _ one mile to a mile and a half there would be major damage, and less serious damage from there up to perhaps four miles, or moreCasualties would depend upon the time of day or night and the place the attack occurred. Taking a calculated aver- age, however, the following could be expected: Dead, 52,000 to 64,000; injured, who would eventually recover, 53,000 to 64,000; total casualties, 105,000 to 128,000. It would be necessary to hospitalize between 47,000 and 57,000 persons, to treat from 23,000 to 28,000 out-patients, and to find shelter for countless thousands. The Civil Defense Council, appointed in 1950, has made considerable progress in organizing the state into target, mutual aid and support areas, and combinations of such areas. The State Control Center, already established, is making an inventory of all available services and equipment suitable for use in emergencies. A special civil defense organization is being set up in schools. A Ground Observer Corps, consisting of approximately 750 strategically located stations manned by volunteers who would warn of the approach of enemy planes, has been organized. The State Police communications system is ready to fan out an alert in case of an impending air attack. Although the state is making every preparation to meet atomic attack, the degree to which casualty tolls can be reduced in case of such attack depends not alone upon civil defense organization but upon the measures every citizen of Michigan takes to protect himself. One way for each citizen to meet this responsibility is to memorize the information in the following pages so that he will know what to do to increase his chances of survival under atomic attack. ee ti Governor WHAT ARE YOUR CHANCES? Atom-splitting Is Just Another Way of Causing an Explosion. To begin with, you must realize that atom-splitting is just another way of causing an explosion. While an atom bomb holds more death and destruction than man has ever before wrapped in a single package, its total power is definitely limited. Not even hydrogen bombs could blow the earth apart or kill us all by mysterious radiation. Your Chances of Surviving an Atomic Attack Are Better Than You May Have Thought. Because the power of all bombs is limited, your chances of living through an atomic attack are much better than you may have thought. In the city of Hiroshima, slightly oyer half the people who were a mile from the atomic explosion are still alive. At Nagasaki, almost 70 percent of the people a mile from the bomb lived to tell their experiences. Today thousands of survivors of these two atomic attacks live in new houses built right where their old ones once stood. The war may have changed their way of life, but they are not riddled with cancer. Their children are normal. Those who were temporarily unable to have children because of the radiation now are having children again.