ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE
According to Dr. Graham, who headed up a commission of EMP experts, spoke before the House Armed Services Committee in July 2008, and stated "The electromagnetic fields produced by weapons deployed with the intent to produce EMP have a high likelihood of damaging electrical power systems, electronics, and information systems upon which American society depends. Their effects on critical infrastructures could be sufficient to qualify as catastrophic to the Nation."
Depending upon the type of EMP attack, the entire structure of society could be affected. Safety for everyone would be at stake.
We would all be vulnerable to more than could be imagined.
EMP (electromagnetic pulse) is different from all other natural and man-made disasters. Most disasters are either local or regional in nature but a disaster of this type could be nationwide.
A nuclear weapon or a solar flare can create an EMP.
On March 13th, 1989 a huge solar induced magnetic storm that played havoc with the ionosphere, and the earth's magnetic field. This storm, the second largest storm experienced in the past 50 years, totally shut down Hydro-Quebec, the power grid servicing Canada's Quebec province.
A nuclear weapon detonated in or above the earth’s atmosphere can create an EMP (electromagnetic pulse), a high-density electrical field. It can seriously damage or bring down the entire power grid of a nation.
This includes:
- communication systems,
- computers,
- water treatment systems,
- electrical appliances, and
- automobile or aircraft ignition systems;
- a nations entire infrastructure.
Electromagnetic Pulse
Most electronic equipment within 1,000 miles of a high-altitude nuclear detonation would be effected. The initial impact of an electromagnetic pulse is unlikely to harm most people; however, it could harm those with pacemakers or other implanted electronic devices. It's the long-term effects on a population who aren't prepared to survive without electricity that has many concerned.
The bigger threat comes from America's adversaries
Watch this short video of an interview with EMP expert and author of the 'One Second After' Bill Forstchen.
Commission to Assess the Threat
William R. Graham, chairman of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack and the former national science adviser to President Reagan, testified before the committee while presenting a sobering new report on 'one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences.'
The immediate effects of electromagnetic pulse are disruption of, and damage to, electronic systems and electrical infrastructure. Such a detonation over the middle of the continental U.S.'"has the capability to produce significant damage to critical infrastructures that support the fabric of U.S. society and the ability of the United States and Western nations to project influence and military power,' said Graham.
'Recovery could take months or years,' Graham warned. The fact that key components of the U.S. electrical grid are not even manufactured in America and must be ordered a year in advance from foreign suppliers suggests just how complicated and time-consuming recovery might be.
Don't Panic - Be Prepared
Prepare as you would for Power Outages and other natural or man-made disasters.
Store an emergency water supply and an emergency food supply along with other survival supplies.
Sources
World Net Daily
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=69280
Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from
Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack
http://empcommission.org/docs/A2473-EMP_Commission-7MB.pdf