Researchers in the UK have simulated a nuclear bomb explosion to find out how best to survive it inside a building.
To that end, the study, by Ioannis William Kokkinakis and Dimitris Drikakis of the University of Nicosia, uses computer modeling of a 750-kiloton blast.
The odds of survival vary depending on where you are in space.
Just being inside isn’t enough to be sure, as the post-impact shockwave is powerful enough to lift someone even between four walls, the study, published in the journal Physics of Fluids, says.
It is therefore recommended to avoid proximity to windows, doors and corridors.
The best place would therefore be in the corner of a room, set back from the openings leading to the outside.
However, the study’s authors point out that people in the vicinity of an explosion have only a few seconds to react before the shock wave reaches them.
“When people see the blast from afar, they need to take refuge very quickly,” Mr Drikakis told the Chron. You have to move away from the windows and take refuge in a room with no opening or in a corner.
These guidelines relate only to the risk of serious injury or death upon impact.
People in the radius of a nuclear bomb have to live with higher-than-average radiation levels and should “see a doctor immediately,” the researcher continues, also hinting that he hopes his advice never has to be put into practice.