Jenny Hatch
Saturday, Nov. 17, 2001

Upon hearing of the bombing, I would call my husband and ask him to immediately gather up the children from school. When my family arrived home, we would walk down to our basement, where we would resume living indoors, sheltered from fallout.

How would we live if the power and water were off and nuclear radiation was in the air? We would start by praying, and asking Father in Heaven for his protecting hand to be upon our family, our nation, local and national leaders, and guide us to know what to do for personal safety.

We would give each child a potassium iodide tablet. And continue giving them one every day for two weeks, to protect their little thyroid glands from radiation poisoning. My husband and I would also take these protective pills.

We have a couple of 55-gallon drums filled with clean water stored in our basement. (One gallon per person per day provides drinking, bathing and dish/laundry water.) I have a bottle of pure bleach on hand to purify this water (16 drops per gallon of water) and also a water pitcher purifier that could be used to pull more contaminants out of the water.

Water from hot water heaters, cisterns on the backs of toilets, and waterbeds could also supply gallons of water to drink, bathe or wash with.

For food we have a three-day supply of crackers, peanut butter, protein bars, just-add-water dried soups, and boxed drinks. This food is contained in our 72-hour kits. These kits are in backpacks that could quickly be transported to our car, or carried on foot, in case of an evacuation from our home.

In these kits we have important documents, cash, water, a change of clothing, hiking boots for each family member, toiletries, radio, sleeping bags, tent, first aid kit, candles, gas masks, and our shotgun and ammo.

If we were in our basement shelter for the two weeks after any nuclear event, or longer depending on the state of the nation, I would immediately start sprouting wheat for a wheat grass operation. Wheat grass juice is a cheap and natural way to cleanse the body of pollution. Radiation in the body is quickly flushed out of the cells when wheat grass juice is consumed.

A few drops of wheat grass juice mixed in dirty water also has a purifying effect and could be used if one ran out of bleach to cleanse foul drinking water.

We have wheat, oats and beans stored in #10 cans. We also have a Dutch oven and a supply of charcoal for hot meals of cracked wheat cereal, bean soup or sprouted grain casserole. We have rounded out these foods with a supply of olive oil, salt, powdered milk and honey.

Cooking would be difficult in the basement, with the smoke from the charcoal making it hard to breathe [editor's note: don't try this kind of indoor cooking; lethal carbon monoxide poisoning could result], but we could live quite well on sprouted grains. Raw oatmeal soaked overnight and eaten with honey in the morning would satisfy. Hunger would prompt the picky eater to partake of these simple foods.

A day in our shelter would include morning prayers/scripture reading, followed by a meal of cracked wheat soaked in water overnight. We would hold school for our four children using the many books and materials we have gathered over the years to enrich their education. We would feed our dog the food we have stored for her in case of emergency.

A bucket lined with a black garbage bag would serve as a toilet. Mulch or sawdust thrown into this bag after each use would help to contain odors and dry the waste for later disposal.

If the children became bored, we have a shelf full of board games and books, and we could sew, do crafts, prepare the next meal, or nap. We would have a daily session of exercise to stretch and flex our muscles and calm our nerves.

We would sing songs with our guitar to uplift spirits and help the children overcome fear. We would quietly listen to our radio on a limited basis, so as not to overwhelm the children with too much bad news.

If one of the children became sick, we have a variety of remedies on hand to help with illness. We love aromatherapy and a good-quality essential oil would help to elevate moods, enhance natural wellness, and scent the air with beautiful aromas.

We also have a supply of homeopathic remedies, herbs, vitamins and minerals to boost our immune systems and aid in wellness. Even if the government ran out of vaccines and antibiotics we would feel safe using the natural healing. We would not have to worry about horrible side effects from strong medicines if we used our natural remedies.

To bathe we would fill a handheld sprayer with water, a liquid soap and essential oils and do a daily cleansing of the skin. Baby wipes could be used to cleanse private areas of the body to help control odor and prevent the spread of disease.

To cleanse the air in our basement we would fill a spray bottle with water and a few drops of essential oils and spray the air several times a day. This activity would quickly saturate the air with ozone and negative ions to cleanse it of contaminants.

If I were expecting a new baby, preparations for a quiet home birth would give comfort that all would be well with me and the new baby should the birth occur during a crisis.

A few La Leche League meetings could supply me with needed information on how to breastfeed. This information would help us to care for our baby during any crisis, without the help of a midwife or doctor.

Whenever I try to imagine giving birth during a war, I always think of the movie "Gone with the Wind," the birth scene with Melanie in labor and Scarlet frantically looking for someone to help. When the doctor was finally located, he told her, with a sort of crazed look in his eye, "This is war, people are dying, there is nothing to bringing a baby."

Although Melanie had a difficult birth in the movie, both she and the baby survived despite Scarlet and Prissy "not knowin' nothin' 'bout birthin' babies." I gave birth to my 11-pound son at home five years ago in an attempt to practice an unassisted birth, knowing I had backup from the medical profession.

If you think you might have a baby sometime in the next 20 or 30 years, you would be well served to do a little research on unassisted childbirth. During a nuclear crisis the last place a laboring women should be is in a hospital.

For dish cleaning we would wash our dishes in a basin with soapy water, or if we wanted to save our water for drinking, we would scrub the dishes with sand from our sandbox and spray with the essential oil bottle for sanitation.

We would wash our dirty clothing in a little hand-crank machine I bought, and dry the clothing on racks. We would sleep in our sleeping bags and keep our shotgun close by for personal security.

We would worship and pray and eat and live and life would go on much as it does in our everyday world. Priorities would be given to feeding the children, keeping them clean, healthy, warm and dry. We would sleep, eat, bathe, teach, play and sing.

As a mother, the priorities for daily life in our basement after a nuclear attack would largely be the same goals I have for my children in normal life.

Parents and grandparents, instead of toys and games for your children for the holidays, why not get them a 72-hour kit, a 50-pound bag of wheat and a 55-gallon water container? For the same amount of money you would spend on dolls, video games or a bike, you could get the few supplies necessary to live through an emergency.

"Fear often is a life-saving emotion. When we believe death is close at hand, fear can increase our ability to work harder and longer, driven by fear, we can accomplish feats that would be impossible otherwise. Trembling hands, weak legs, and cold sweat do not mean that a person has become ineffective. Doing hard necessary work is one of the best ways to keep one’s fears under control.

"If the danger is unexpected enough or great enough, normal persons sometimes experience terror as well as fear. Terror prevents the mind from evaluating dangers and thinking logically. It develops in two stages. ...

"The first stage is apathy: people become indifferent to their own safety and are unable even to try to save themselves or their families. The second stage is a compulsion to flee. … Persons who learn to understand the nature of our inherent human traits and behavior and symptoms are less likely to become terrorized and ineffective in the event of a nuclear attack." (Cresson H. Kearny, "Nuclear War Survival Skills")

I learned many practical skills from Dr. Kearny’s book, which he has graciously published online for anyone to read for free. This book helped me to understand the myths versus the facts of a nuclear attack, and our family has purchased the supplies he recommends to survive a nuclear incident in our own little home.

If we give in to terror and become apathetic or attempt to flee our homes, it is these very actions which will cause more death and disease than the actual bombings.

Imagine if every person in America had a two-week supply of food, water and supplies to survive a nuclear blast. Those at ground zero would certainly lose their lives, but the authorities could focus on the needs of people in the locales around the blast site, while the rest of America confidently took care of itself.

Please move beyond terror in your own mind and let a little fear motivate you to buy the things necessary and master the skills needed for surviving a nuclear incident.

One person at a time, we can win the war on terror using our wits and remembering the legacy of our patriot ancestors, who sacrificed so much to provide us with freedom.

If you will take personal responsibility for your own safety rather than depending on others, you will be one less person or family the authorities have to worry about during an attack.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
War on Terrorism
Missile Defense