How are Asian governments preparing people for a nuclear attack? Comics and drills

As North Korea conducts regular nuclear and missile tests, governments in nearby countries are trying to get their citizens to prepare for the worst: a nuclear attack.

One big hurdle they face? Getting people to listen – without terrifying them.

“What we try to do is enable people to think that it’s not scary or that we cannot do anything. We can of course do a lot,” said Ali Asgary, associate professor of disaster and emergency management at York University.

If you’re not in the immediate blast zone, it’s very possible to survive a nuclear attack, he said.

“It may or may not work for a particular person, but collectively if people, 50 per cent of them take those actions, they would reduce the impact by a significant level.”

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However, most people don’t prepare. “The majority of people, no, they don’t take it seriously.”

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1:41 Air sirens heard over Japan following N. Korea missile launch

“For most people, they have other things to worry about which are more important for them in their daily lives,” he said. They might also believe that campaigns are more motivated by international politics than an actual risk, or have heard such threats before and seen nothing come of them.

That seems to be the case for many in South Korea, according to a recent Reuters report. The response to a nation-wide emergency drill in August was anemic, the reporter found.

A professor said that it’s tough to get people involved in government preparations for a war that few believe will happen. Despite the sirens, many didn’t bother to seek shelter.

“I do strongly believe we need this drill but it doesn’t seem to be working properly,” said Choi In-sook, a 45-year-old housewife strolling down a city street when a drill siren went off. She didn’t run for cover.

Others do seem to be engaged in emergency preparation – survival kits were a popular holiday gift recently, and YouTube stars are telling people how to put one together.

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The local government in Hokkaido, Japan is trying a different tactic to get people to pay attention: manga comics.

They produced a short comic book explaining simple tips like taking cover in sturdy buildings or underground.

“We decided to release the manga after hearing from our residents that the current manual is hard to understand,” said Kiyomi Tanabe, a Hokkaido official.

The Hokkaido government has sent electronic copies of the comic to schools, fisheries associations and other public bodies on the island so they can print them out, the official said.

It’s important to give people enough information that they know what to do in an emergency, said Asgary, but governments can easily go too far and scare people – which is counter-productive.

When people are afraid, they might ignore advice or assume that they can’t do anything, he said.

Mitch Aguon, an auto parts seller in Guam, where the local government has also started a public education campaign, told Reuters in August that preparation was pointless.

“By the time we hear about it, it’ll be too late and there’s no room for us ordinary Joes in the bomb shelters. We’re dead meat,” he said.

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What to do in a nuclear attack

Asgary disagrees. “People who know what to do in preparation and during the situation where they are, they can better respond and they can save their lives.”

The advice given by governments in Japan, Guam and South Korea is legitimate, he said, and could help save the lives of people who are not in the immediate blast zone.

Here are some of the major points made by all three governments:

1. Stay inside, preferably underground if possible
2. If you’re outside when a bomb hits, go inside if you can
3. Don’t look at the bomb blast
4. If you can’t get to shelter, lie down flat on the ground or take cover behind anything you can
5. If a missile hits a nearby area and you’re outside, cover your nose and mouth with cloth
6. If you were caught outside, wash your entire body as soon as possible, and discard your clothes in a plastic bag. Keep them far away from you.
7. Prepare to stay indoors for at least 24 hours, so it’s good to have an emergency kit on hand.

-With files from Reuters and Agence France-Presse