Quote from: DEViANCE

Quote from: knightyId make sure I was in one of those left over nuke bunkers in some old buildings.... theres at elast 1 I know if in newcastle.... thatll do.... get in first and lock the oddr behind me

yeah there is an old ROC in the field behind my house, its still got its air cleaner and periscope too.
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Youre buggered if there is a Tsunami.

IF it hits the sea and creates a tsunami would going underground be a bad idea as it could leak and flood? Or you be trapped as the water either did not or took a long time to disperse?

Going underground would be but if you take an air bubble with you youll be fine.  Itd work just like a diving bell.  i.e. youd be sat in a bubble.

In a tsunami your priorities would/should probably be:
* get off the surface
* get an oxygen supply down with you
* a way of getting warm after

Id get really drunk and try to have a shag before it hit.

Quote from: White GiantId get really drunk and try to have a shag before it hit.

Quite right too.

Id probably flap around trying to get survival things sorted and then think. **** it, drink and shag.
...then knowing my luck, Id survive the initial blast and die of some nasty VD because there is no medicine about :s

Quote from: White GiantId get really drunk and try to have a shag before it hit.

that is very probably the best suggestion so far.


However, personally Id probably be trying to gather a group of people who are "good to have around in a tight spot" and their associated hangers on. Safety in numbers you know. The UK gets hit by a Tsunami, youre about 95% likelyhood dead anyway. If youre still alive in 5 days time, youre going to need food, water, shelter and ways to aquire/keep the above.

In short, I want whatever supplies I can gather in terms of food, water and ammo, plus a decent number of useful people whose skills compliment one another.

Quote from: knighty

Quote from: MarkThen Id hole up in my paranoid moneybags uncles shelter.

Ill arm wrestle you for your place in the shelter...



no wait.... we could play tidily winks to see who gets in ?

lol no probs

He is an idiot - the thing cost as much as a house (Im guessing) - and realistically - when is he ever going to use it

He could do it up and rent it out as a batchelors pad weekend retreat type thing. Either market the soundproofing thing, do themed lock in type stuff ala "The hole" or organise paintball events around it?

So youre all going to dig holes and dive in? What are you going to do without tekforum? How many of you are going to go bonkers down there trying to deal with withdrawal?

TBH White Giant probably gave the best answer, get drunk and have sex.

The real problem seems to be the amount of food and water you need to survive, its going to be many months to several years for the atmosphere to recover. What got the dinosaurs was a near total lack of food and massive temperature swings. Initially cold due to the particulates in the atmosphere and then hot as those fall out and the CO2 takes over, producing a greenhouse effect.

Theres probably going to be some survivors but as to how many and where I dont know. No electricity, gas, fuel or mains water. Very limited, if any, medical supplies. Any frozen food you have will go off in days unless you have a generator to supply power. Technology down the drain.

Tsunamis were mentioned but what about earth quakes? Again all that hot rock going up has to come down somewhere.

Then there is the psychological factors, a lot of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended up wandering aimlessly around due to shock. Expect the same thing.

The question is keeping technology alive, there are some places that could survive a hit on this scale, bunkers and the likes, but will they be ready and have enough resources to cope?

Most people who arent killed outright are going to suffer hypothermia, starve or die of thirst. Even if they do go out they will end up finding most of the water available is contaminated.

Just try working out what the minimum food and water you would need to survive a year is.

I read a couple of books and have watched some related TV programmes in the past. I certainly didnt realise the enormity of the survival problem either. compared to this surviving a global pandemic virus might be relatively easy.

If you didnt go to the shops how long would the food last in your home?

Quote from: SeriousSo youre all going to dig holes and dive in? What are you going to do without tekforum? How many of you are going to go bonkers down there trying to deal with withdrawal?

TBH White Giant probably gave the best answer, get drunk and have sex.

Im just taking my girlfriend and some spares into the hole to survive.  You have sex all the time (lets not dwell on that point) - 4 days off to keep living might be a better use of your time.

QuoteThe real problem seems to be the amount of food and water you need to survive, its going to be many months to several years for the atmosphere to recover. What got the dinosaurs was a near total lack of food and massive temperature swings. Initially cold due to the particulates in the atmosphere and then hot as those fall out and the CO2 takes over, producing a greenhouse effect.

Waters not going to be a problem after the first day tbh.  It may be ice but theres going to be no shortage of the stuff.  If the sun gets blocked out by a dust cloud for years then fair enough with total lack of food but youre pretty much dead on a planet without sun regardless of what you do.  Lasting a couple of months on whats around shouldnt be too difficult.  Theres so much useful stuff lying around the surface of the planet these days - which dinosaurs didnt have.  You could probably burn everything in sight for months for heat without even denting a small towns resources.

QuoteTheres probably going to be some survivors but as to how many and where I dont know. No electricity, gas, fuel or mains water.

Well theres tons to burn on the planet and theres going to be a lot of cars around unused if you really needed diesel/petrol.  Mains waters no problem - sewage shouldnt be a problem and anyone with the skills to survive is going to be able to work out how to knock up an evaporator for drinking water.  If they cant do that or find someone wholl do it for them then theyre probably not worth saving anyway...

QuoteVery limited, if any, medical supplies.

thats going to be the biggest problem but you can get a long way with clean water and hot pieces of metal.

QuoteAny frozen food you have will go off in days unless you have a generator to supply power. Technology down the drain.

Whats your obcession with frozen food?  Salt has been used to preserve food for decades before fridges/freezers.  Thats going to be falling out of sea water like crazy when people are evaporating drinking water.  With even moderate sun light theres going to be plants, animals and fish all over the place.  Let alone the years of food supplies lying around tinned in every city.

QuoteTsunamis were mentioned but what about earth quakes? Again all that hot rock going up has to come down somewhere.

Earthquakes shouldnt be a huge problem tbh.  Its an impact not a tectonic movement.  It seems like a lot of energy being dumped because its happening in a short period of time and on the surface but chances are the strike is actually releasing less energy than the earths plates release every time they crack.

QuoteThen there is the psychological factors, a lot of people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended up wandering aimlessly around due to shock. Expect the same thing.

Thats down to the individual - in reality you could probably save a reasonable group of people around you with 4 days planning.

QuoteThe question is keeping technology alive, there are some places that could survive a hit on this scale, bunkers and the likes, but will they be ready and have enough resources to cope?

I know a lot of people whod be able to get irrigation/water and simple mechanical systems back up and running in no time.  Im fairly certain I could get basic electricity for a small group of huts up and running within a month just from scraps of metal on the surface of the planet.  Sub 50V Batteries are very doable within a couple of weeks even with nothing.  Basic radio receiving equipment shouldnt be too difficult to build from that point.

QuoteMost people who arent killed outright are going to suffer hypothermia, starve or die of thirst. Even if they do go out they will end up finding most of the water available is contaminated.

Nope - water really isnt a problem - just boil any water (sea water is fine) and catch the steam.  Itll be pure.  You do however need fire which will be the deciding factor.  Because frankly, you cant light fires using sticks.

QuoteJust try working out what the minimum food and water you would need to survive a year is.

Waters trivial if someone in your group has a brain.  Food youre going to need about 400,000kCal a year per person.  Possibly more if youre cold.  very doable if theres stuff lying around from civilization - i.e. its about 800 tins of beans.

QuoteIf you didnt go to the shops how long would the food last in your home?

Probably around 4 weeks.  But theres around 250 flats in the factory I live in.  Most of those people wont survive...  No problem.

What happens when most of the population dies, how are we going to prevent all the nuclear reactors etc from going critical?


Would it be a fair assumption you *may* survive the asteroid, but what about the fall of all our tech?

Even assuming people forget to turn them off, nuclear reactors turn off without maintainance.

What tech is likely to be a problem?  Almost everything it inherently built to shut down without maintainance.

Im would try to persuade SteveF that im useful enough for him to allow me to stay with him. He sounds like he has a plan!

And if that doesnt work ill board up my windows or something.

Quote from: SteveFEven assuming people forget to turn them off, nuclear reactors turn off without maintainance.

What tech is likely to be a problem?  Almost everything it inherently built to shut down without maintainance.

Would the impact of such a large asteroid likely cause earthquakes on a global scale? If that were to happen Id imagine things like gas pipes might rupture?

On the nuclear front, as we have 4 days, the sensible thing would be to shut everything down. But is 4 days long enough to remove all the fuel rods and get them into storage? And do we even have viable long term storage facilities yet? You have the WIPP in america, but generally arent things stored on site or disposed of in deep sea trenches. The on site disposal isnt long long term and so Id have thought itd be reasonable to assume that within a generation or two degradation would begin to pollute the surrounding area?

Dumping the waste at sea before the impact probably wouldnt be a good idea either if the impact was at sea?

I was thinking more of stuff like 28 days later and Manchester being on fire. Will the services really shut down all gas/electricity etc? If they do, people will need to periodically maintain things like gas cylinders. With no fire crews around fires could spread throughout the cities?

And what happens if this asteroid itself is composed of radioactive or other toxic materials that ends up vapourised and in the atmosphere? You could end up being stuck in one of these air bubbles under ground for yonks weighting for the atmosphere to become breathable maybe?

Its unlikely to cause many earthquakes after the initial shock tbh.  Theres far more power in the core of the earth than a non destructive asteroid is going to provide.

You wouldnt have to shut down the power stations.  When the power started rippling a load of boron rods would just drop into the cores and shut them down.  You wouldnt be able to start them up again but they arent going to go boom.  Im not sure why youd want to store the uranium rods - just leave them in the reactors - safest place for them and we dont exactly need them for anything.

If the gas pipes burst all that would happen is a tiny tiny tiny fraction of the worlds gas supply would go into the atmosphere instead of being in a tube.  It wouldnt really be much of a huge problem tbh.  Gas leaks into the atmosphere all the time from the ground and the oceans.


If the asteroid did hit a nuclear power plant then youd atomise a few kilos of uranium.  It would be a problem for a few miles around the nuclear plant if you stayed there for a couple of months but tbh if youre within a few miles of a nuclear plant when an asteroid hits then youre dead anyway.  Gradual radiation poisoning from a couple of grains of radioactive dust is the least of your worries.  People live in the chernobyl zone and that was before the auto shutdowns and was only really a problem because it vented radioactive gas.  the actual uranium rods didnt really make any difference.