American cities, including Atlanta, would be devastated by even a small nuclear attack due to insufficient preparation and concentration of medical facilities in downtown areas, according to a study conducted by University professors.

Cham Dallas, professor of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences, and William Bell, senior research scientist in the College of Public Health, looked at the effects of a 20 kiloton and a 550 kiloton nuclear weapon detonation on New York, Washington D.C., Chicago and Atlanta.

The devices dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II were approximately 10 – 15 kilotons. A terrorist faction or countries with nuclear capabilities, such as North Korea or Iran, could produce a 20 kiloton weapon, Dallas said.

A 550 kiloton device is about the average strength of the weapons found in Russia during the Cold War, he said.

“Atlanta is much better off than other cities in hospital preparedness,” he said, due to the many well-equipped medical facilities in the suburbs.

But the results of the study showed that all of the studied cities – and the country as a whole – would be made most vulnerable by the loss of medical buildings and supplies in case of an attack.

For example, a small nuclear attack would produce mass fires surrounding the point of detonation, resulting in possibly hundreds of thousands of burn victims in need of immediate care, according to the study, which was published last month in the International Journal of Health Geographics.

The U.S. has approximately 1,500 beds available for burn victims, and “most of those beds are already occupied,” the study said.

All of the hospitals in downtown areas would be destroyed by the immediate blast, causing an overflow of patients at the ones left standing.

Scared yet?

There also would be a severe lack of respirators, which tens of thousands of victims would need. More importantly, there would be massive displacement of medically-trained professionals, Dallas said.

Most medical records would be lost as well.

In addition to thermal effects, the cities would experience the effects of prompt and fallout radiation.

The fallout radiation, which the authors said in the study is the “largest geographic distribution of effect from most nuclear weapon detonations,” would create “conical-shaped plumes” extending to the northeast of Atlanta, following weather patterns.

But Dallas said student’s shouldn’t worry.

The University is actually “a pretty good place to be,” Dallas said.

He said the University Office of Terrorism Preparedness and other extensive training puts it above other universities.

“(We’re also) an ideal distance away,” he said.

“More than likely, (students) would be encouraged not to go anywhere,” he said. “We would want to limit the number of people moving around.”

In fact, Dallas said many people fleeing Atlanta probably would seek refuge at the University.

Dallas said the best way for the country to prepare for a nuclear attack is to “revamp” its civil defense strategy with simple measures, but informing and training the public about how to handle an attack presents another challenge.

“People should prepare just as you would for an ice storm,” he said, citing the need to be trained on when to stay and leave and keeping a few days’ worth of food and water, as well as battery-operated radios on hand.