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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 1981)
emerald Vol 83, No 49 I Eugene, Oregon 97403 Wednesday, November 11,1981 -—I Nuclear controversy mushrooms Devastation of Eugene described By DEBBIE HOWLETT Of tha EmaraM Editor's note The stories on this page report on the first day of the “The World Held Hostage'' symposium held at the University Imagine a crater in the center of Eugene as large as the University campus and twice as deep as the new Hilton Hotel is high Imagine shoppers at Valley River Center hit by a blast of air hot enough to incinerate all but 2 percent of them If that's hard to imagine it may be because the des truction wrought by a one megaton nuclear device is inconceivable to you But this would be the result of a one-megaton nuclear bomb detonated in Eugene, ac cording to Mike McCaulley of Physicians for Social Re sponsibility One megaton is equal to the explosive power of one million tons of TNT or 50 times the blast at Hiroshima Most contemporary nuclear devices are 50 megatons McCaulley spoke to an audience in the EMU Forum Tuesday about the effects of nuclear war His talk was part of a nuclear symposium sponsored jointly by Students for a Nuclear-free Future, the Union for Con cerned Scientists and the Ci tizens' Action fqr Lasting Security Nuclear war is a reality even though the last incident was 36 years ago,” McCaul ley said We are pro grammed into a nuclear way of thinking ” Video games, energy is sues and expressions like to nuke” or "nuke the whales” all contribute to the pro gramming, he said McCaulley also spoke about the effects of a one megaton blast in a met ropolitan area Radiation fal lout generally is assumed to be the most gruesome aspect of a nuclear attack, McCaulley said, but the reality is that the effects of the blast and the heat will predominate "A heated wall of com pressed air will radiate out from ground zero (the initial point of impact) With winds up to 100 mph at 10 miles out, it will rupture lungs and eardrums at that distance The attack would be devastating as far as seven miles from ground zero, McCaulley said Buildings, JASPER £ PLEASANT K HILL TRENT Graphic by Max DeRungs JIf" s tl j,— O. -1 y % *r > ' ^kd If a bomb was dropped on Eugene ♦ • • The predicted effects — according to a report compiled by the Students for a Nu clear-Free Future — of a one-megaton bomb dropped from 6,000 feet to the center of Eugene within a 40-mile radius would be ZONE 1 — A 2 1 -mile radius with, winds up to 350 mph This area would be devastated three hospitals would be destroyed as well as the campuses of Northwest Christian College and the University The city hall, court house and federal building would crumble. Ninety eight percent of the people in this area would be killed in the first eight seconds ZONE 2 — A 4.2-mile radius with winds up to 100 mph This area would see the destruc tion of 39 public schools and the collapse of the I-5 overpasses leading into the city Seventy-eight percent of the people in this area would be killed within 14 seconds ZONE 3 — A 6 3-mile radius with winds up to 100 mph Lane Community College would be destroyed as well as the town of Goshen Springfield would be hit by the concussive blasts. Eighteen seconds after the blast, 50 percent of the people in this area would be killed ZONE 4 — A 10 3-miie radius with winds up to 50 mph The city of Coburg would be damaged In the 23 seconds since the detona tion 5 percent of the people in this area would be killed and many more would suffer first- and second-degree burns ZONE 5 — People from as far away as 40 miles would be blinded by an eight-mile-high ball of fire more brilliant than the noon sun Radiation fall-out would occur: the path of the fall-out would be determined by weather and atmospheric conditions In this 10.3-mile radius — in less than two minutes — 50 percent of the people there would be killed instantly and hundreds of thousands more would be injured either cri tically or less severely Within this radius, buildings would crum ble. communications horn the area or into the area would be shut off completely Four hos pitals and many more clinics would be de stroyed Figures on population and density are from a study by the University s geography department. hospitals and communication would be completely destroyed Fallout from radiation would spread according to wind pat terns and weather, affecting an even larger portion of the population, McCaulley said "There would be no hospitals or medicines to treat the injured and adequate treatment for burn victims would be non-ex istent " There are two ways to protect yourself, McCaulley said, "in fallout shelters or evacuation Neither is adequate " Fallout shelters would not be capable of sustaining inhabi tants for the extended period of time that would be needed, "and if the government asked people to evacuate, I think few people would believe it," he said "How willing would the re sidents of Eugene and Medford be to shelter these millions of people (from Portland)? How willing would these people be to leave their homes?” The two-day symposium, The World Held Hostage, continues today with a "die-in," a staged demonstration of the effects of a nuclear attack, at noon in the EMU lobby Congressman favors strong arms defense While many people at the University will demonstrate for the end of nuclear arms at the symposium "The World Held Hostage," many peo ple, among them lawmakers, advocate the opposite view Among those favoring nu clear arms is Rep Denny Smith, R-Ore While Smith doesn not necessarily favor all forms of nuclear weaponry, he does favor a strong "national defense," says Glen Waldon, a spokesman for Smith Smith believes nuclear weapons should be a deter rent, Waldon says, and that the Soviets have many more weapons than the United States. Smith contends weapons have a psy chological impact on other people, Waldon says The best way to fight that advantage is to have more weapons than the Soviets, says Waldron. "If somebody hits you and they know you can’t strike back, they're more likely to hit you." But Smith s belief is that the Soviets are living up to the SALT II agreement, even without anything binding them to it, Waldon says Although the congress man favors a strong national defense, he doesn’t always agree with the Reagan Ad ministration's decisions, Waldon says Smith main tains too much money is spent on the defense budget when it could be put to better use The proposed MX missile system causes Smith to wince although he is not opposed to the missile itself, Waldon says "The multiple base system is the most idiotic scheme I’ve ever heard of," Waldon says. "You can’t even throw the cement at the enemy "The limit is that you never push the button' and you hope that the other side doesn 't either ” Inside: Alcohol Penalties are stiff for minors who attempt to buy alcohol with false identification and for the merchants who sell it to them Page 4A Jazz Emerald Entertainment Edi tor Matt Meyer interviews jazz artist Pat Metheny back stage after his Portland con cert Tuesday night Page 3B
