Preparing people for nuclear war - CNN

wants to gently prepare people for (an unlikely) nuclear war

By AJ Willingham, CNN

Updated 1659 GMT (0059 HKT) January 5, 2018


















Trump to Kim Jong Un: My nuke button is bigger than yours 05:35
Story highlights
* The CDC is devoting one of its monthly meetings to nuclear preparedness
* Representatives say the topic was chosen long before recent US and North Korean escalations of nuclear rhetoric

(CNN)It is absolutely impossible to mention nuclear war without freaking people out, but the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is trying to gently prepare for the possibility.
The CDC is holding a session January 16 to discuss personal safety measures and the training of response teams "on a federal, state, and local level to prepare for nuclear detonation."
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How to cope with fears of a nuclear disaster
The meeting, part of the agency's monthlyPublic Health Grand Rounds, will include presentations like "Preparing for the Unthinkable" and "Roadmap to Radiation Preparedness," and it will be held at the CDC's headquarters in Atlanta. "Grand rounds" are a type of meeting or symposium in which members of a public health community come together to discuss topics of interest or public importance.
This isn't the first time in recent months that official entities have informed the public about the consequences of a possible nuclear strike.
In August, amid escalating nuclear rhetoric from North Korea,  Guam's Homeland Security and Office of Civil Defense released a two-page fact sheet about what to do in the case of a nuclear event.

The fact sheets that officials in the territory of Guam gave residents in August.
And in December, Hawaii started monthly testing of a nuclear warning siren system -- the first such tests since the end of the Cold War.
The timing is sure to be uncomfortable for the more anxious among us, since just a few days ago, President Trump continued the nuclear staredown on Twitter.



Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump

North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!
11:49 AM - Jan 3, 2018
* 156,877 156,877 Replies
191,091 191,091 Retweets
486,504 486,504 likes

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Plus, the CDC's online announcement of the meeting is accompanied by a very comforting photograph of a mushroom cloud.
However, the communications director for the Public Health Grand Rounds said the meeting is not out of the ordinary and is not related to recent tensions between the US and North Korea.
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"The bottom line is, (this is) not new," Susan K. Laird said. "The calendar is developed back in February or first part of March, and then the calendar is set up for the following season, which starts in December. This stuff is determined far in advance."
Kathryn Harben, chief of news medit the CDC, also sought to ease concerns.
"As part of its mission, CDC provides for the common defense of the country against all health threats," she said. "Planning for the Grand Rounds takes place regularly, and planning for this one began last April."
CNN's Sandee LaMotte contributed to this report.