What happens after an EMP?

[Debi]

​

 

[Seahunter]

Scary stuff. The country is zero percent prepared for this scenario. I have little doubt that the 90% fatality estimate is accurate. There would be utter chaos in the streets as people fight for resources.

 

[Charleh]

i should really keep some spare electronics in a farraday cage. i life close enough to America that an EMP would probably affect my town too.

 

[Charleh]

I have little doubt that the 90% fatality estimate is accurate.

it could still be an understatement.

 

[Lynne]

I can't even think about it. Why we haven't hardened our systems to protect them is crazy.

 

[werewolfsonofeire]

Simple answer - money. The everyday population would be wondering why Facebook isn't working before they realised the water, power, gas and other major services were actually out. Its gotten to the point now where very little in the way of human interaction is actually initiated without the internet or telephony (particularly SMS).

So how about this then - and not to hijack this thread of course, this is in league with my investigations in my other post about the "sleeper" time traveller - I was told today about a kid who claimed this his mate (who was telling me this) that on a homestead approximately 5km outside a small village near the top of the next valley over that there is a very predictable fault with at least one light in that house. I'm yet to get more information, but I was told between 11pm and midnight, the light flickers.

I asked the kid, did he think the power was dodgy. Of course, I was told, its dodgy enough here in town. I said, you're wrong, something that is external is making that fault happen. Like what I was asked. And of course, to be that regular, that predictable, and that prolonged, it'd have to be an external EMI source. Operated by an intelligent entity.

Run a couple of hundred watts worth of 24V DC permanent magnet electric motor near a radio receiver, particularly a DAB type, and you've got a non-incapacitating, but very annoying, localised temporary EMP. The power isn't enough to fry the internal circuits, but it IS more than enough to knock the device out of action while the offending EMI source is nearby.

"But its just annoying!"
"Kid, my senior lecturers in microwave and satellite systems used to fix these kinds of issues for a living, when one microwave dish would cause every other dish on a tower to be knocked out."
"So?"
"So? Its not an easy job, and those guys have to be checked for cancer, every six months, without fail, despite being retired from that duty over twenty years, until the day they die. I can do this work myself, but I have no tools now, they all got swiped when my lab got taken from me."

Go ahead and times my lecturers paycheque by a few millionfold, then by a couple of million like him. That stupid number of dollars is the reason the powers that be just wing it everyday, and if it happens... bad luck.

Meanwhile, I like the idea of a gramophone to be honest with you =) I'll get to Utopia Records in the City at some point, get me some Lacuna Coil on LP.

I understand there was a massive solar storm in the early to mid 1800's that if the electrical grid existed then like it does today, we'd be making bricks from hope, prayer and live sacrifices, with a mite of twine mixed in for good measure. But most people won't see past their nose, let alone over the horizon, even with evidence in front of them, but they'll claim they know it all, your research, career knowledge, and first hand experience don't mean zip, of course.

That EMP stuff I was told, I was told it was a rumour, actually. Told the kid, bloody great clue for a machine I'm looking for...

 

[Paulm]

What happens after an emp?..... Simple answer, all out, full scale nuclear war...... An emp itself ( when from a missile system, not a natural occurrence), is not a one and done deal. It is used to knock out and disable the defence systems of those being attacked....so within minutes of the air burst missiles there will be a wave of ground burst nukes.....its the start of a full nuclear exchange. Not a onetime only attack

 

[Paulm]

i should really keep some spare electronics in a farraday cage. i life close enough to America that an EMP would probably affect my town too.

Quite possible you would be affected also...in the video when it shows the cone going east to west, what it doesnt mention is that it also goes north to south for about the same distance...although I do believe that in the video it was maybe a little exaggerated.

 

[Insane Prophet]

I can't even think about it. Why we haven't hardened our systems to protect them is crazy.

The US Military has done some hardening of their systems..Problem you have is that in order for owners of the power grids in the US is that the cost to harden their systems against such a possibility would be astronomical! And the Feds will not help them....Arizona Congressman Trent Franks re-introduced a bill on this below he lays out the consequences of such an attack:

Our entire American way of life relies upon electricity and electronic technology. Our household appliances, food distribution systems, telephone and computer networks, communication devices, cars, airplanes, factories, power plants, bank ATMs, even water and sewage plants could potentially grind to a halt without it. Moreover, while much of our critical military hardware is shielded against EMP, our military relies upon our largely unsecured civilian grid for more than 90 percent of its electricity needs in this country without which it cannot affect its military mission.

According to experts, including Dr. William Graham, who was the White House science adviser during the Reagan administration, an EMP attack over the continental United States could render 70-90 percent of our population unsustainable.

He bases his legislation on the fact that Homeland Security is tasked with protecting America but it can't.

“Passage of this legislation will help the United States prevent and prepare for such an event by including large-scale blackouts into existing national planning scenarios… Most importantly, it requires specific plans for protecting and recovering the electric grid and other critical infrastructure from a dangerous EMP event.”

Continuing, Franks said, “There is a moment in the life of nearly every problem when it is big enough to be seen by reasonable people and still small enough to be successfully addressed. Those of us across America live in a time when there still may be opportunity for the free world to address and mitigate the vulnerability that naturally occurring or weaponized EMP represents to the mechanisms of our civilization. This is our moment.”

Former CIA Director James Woosley had this to say:

Congressional studies quoted by Woolsey estimate that two-thirds of the population would die of starvation, disease, exposure or violence related to social breakdown in the first twelve months alone.

And to make matters worse, we would never even know what hit us, because we would have no means to investigate, to say nothing of respond. Just darkness.

Congressman Urges Protection for Power Grid: EMP Attack “Could Bring Our Civilization to a Cold, Dark Halt”

This is possibly one of the greatest threats facing the US and one that as a country its leaders are not prepared to deal with...I am reminded of the old saying "don't fix it if it ain't broke" well this is broke and our leaders are sticking their head in the sand! WTH!

 

[Lynne]

Simple answer - money. The everyday population would be wondering why Facebook isn't working before they realised the water, power, gas and other major services were actually out. Its gotten to the point now where very little in the way of human interaction is actually initiated without the internet or telephony (particularly SMS).

So how about this then - and not to hijack this thread of course, this is in league with my investigations in my other post about the "sleeper" time traveller - I was told today about a kid who claimed this his mate (who was telling me this) that on a homestead approximately 5km outside a small village near the top of the next valley over that there is a very predictable fault with at least one light in that house. I'm yet to get more information, but I was told between 11pm and midnight, the light flickers.

I asked the kid, did he think the power was dodgy. Of course, I was told, its dodgy enough here in town. I said, you're wrong, something that is external is making that fault happen. Like what I was asked. And of course, to be that regular, that predictable, and that prolonged, it'd have to be an external EMI source. Operated by an intelligent entity.

Run a couple of hundred watts worth of 24V DC permanent magnet electric motor near a radio receiver, particularly a DAB type, and you've got a non-incapacitating, but very annoying, localised temporary EMP. The power isn't enough to fry the internal circuits, but it IS more than enough to knock the device out of action while the offending EMI source is nearby.

"But its just annoying!"
"Kid, my senior lecturers in microwave and satellite systems used to fix these kinds of issues for a living, when one microwave dish would cause every other dish on a tower to be knocked out."
"So?"
"So? Its not an easy job, and those guys have to be checked for cancer, every six months, without fail, despite being retired from that duty over twenty years, until the day they die. I can do this work myself, but I have no tools now, they all got swiped when my lab got taken from me."

Go ahead and times my lecturers paycheque by a few millionfold, then by a couple of million like him. That stupid number of dollars is the reason the powers that be just wing it everyday, and if it happens... bad luck.

Meanwhile, I like the idea of a gramophone to be honest with you =) I'll get to Utopia Records in the City at some point, get me some Lacuna Coil on LP.

I understand there was a massive solar storm in the early to mid 1800's that if the electrical grid existed then like it does today, we'd be making bricks from hope, prayer and live sacrifices, with a mite of twine mixed in for good measure. But most people won't see past their nose, let alone over the horizon, even with evidence in front of them, but they'll claim they know it all, your research, career knowledge, and first hand experience don't mean zip, of course.

That EMP stuff I was told, I was told it was a rumour, actually. Told the kid, bloody great clue for a machine I'm looking for...

Hi Wolves. I am having trouble following your ideas here. You may have to dumb this down a bit for me. In the end are you saying that the time traveler is saying we don’t have to worry about an EMP? I don’t get the flickering light fault thing.