This chapter presents some background information on each type of hazard so that you may better understand the true nature of the hazard. Awareness of the hazards, knowledge of this chapter, and application of common sense should keep you alive. Know how to react to a nuclear hazard. The effects of nuclear weapons are classified as either initial or residual. Initial effects occur in the immediate area of the explosion and are hazardous in the first minute after the explosion.
Residual effects can last for days or years and cause death.
The principal initial effects are blast and radiation. Blast Defined as the brief and rapid movement of air away from the explosion's center and the pressure accompanying this movement. Strong winds accompany the blast. Blast hurls debris and personnel, collapses lungs, ruptures eardrums, collapses structures and positions, and causes immediate death or injury with its crushing effect. The heat and light radiation a nuclear explosion's fireball emits.