War between NATO and Russia and its allies is a very real possibility.  Not a probability or a likelihood necessarily but much more of a possibility than ever since the aftermath of World War II.  Given this being a real possibility some hard information on how to survive a nuclear attack is in order.  In short if you are in the immediate fireball, blast, or firestorm areas of a thermonuclear attack there is not much that you can do.  For most people, the issue is being near a primary but nonmilitary target.   Major logistic infrastructure concentrations such as airports, seaports, petrochemical infrastructure, power generation infrastructure would be primary or secondary targets.  Major population centers are unlikely to be targeted as Russia would not want the United States to also go after their population. 

In short you may have to find a way to survive for 2-4 months before it would be safe to move outside. 

There is a good chance that, in the event of a war, one will find themselves with wrecked infrastructure, no utilities, and fallout that will be deadly radioactive for 2-4 weeks. Nukemap is a website which can compute the damage radiation that would be caused by many sizes of nuclear weapon impact.  Such an attack on Chicago's infrastructure target would cause 128,000 immediate deaths and 722,000 serious injuries.  



If you are more than 5-10 miles from the point of impact this end of the world will just be the start of a very ugly world.  A world in which you will need this free government book.  Nuclear War Survival Skills by Cresson Kearny of Oakridge National Laboratory.  This is the kind of thing we all learned to laugh at and think come on no one would ever be such a fool. 

This book will teach you how to create fallout shelters, how and where to take refuge in a city, how to even improvise a rough shelter from a earthen trench. 


Here are the major points to know about protection from fall out.
Your two best friends in protection from fall out are distance and dirt.  

The farther you are from a source of radiation the less you get.  The best protection is dirt, a shelter below ground level with as much dirt between you and the fall out as safely possible.  Distance can work if you are in multi-story building being at least 2-3 stories above ground and 2-3 stories from the roof at a minimum.  More is better.  If you live on a high rise that has a reinforced concrete core, get in there and get to about the middle floors of the building and stay there. 

The second biggest concern is water, one can live without food for quite a while but without water you die in three days.  Most homes have a water heater with 20-50 gallons in it.  Be sure you have a hose to get the water out of the relief valve at the bottom of it.  Use water only to eat. 

The third biggest concern is sanitation.  Having a bucket with garbage bags can work for a toilet in this type of situation.  Do not use water for this. 

The fourth is, if possible, have food that is shelf stable on hand at all times.   

If you are at work, consider that you may need to take shelter at work do not try to travel home. 

To conclude I know this is all very intense, and we all pray that this kind of information is never truly needed.  We live in an absurd world right now.  Personally, I'd give us a 75% chance of ending 2022 with Ukraine dismembered but no wider war.  A 25% chance of a wider war and who knows where it would lead. 

Long term you will need to be able and willing to do manual labor to clean up, rebuild, relocate, and start over.  Large parts of major cities will be devastated yet the cities could be rebuilt.  Hiroshima and Nagasaki were.