TY - JOUR U1 - Zeitschriftenartikel, wissenschaftlich - begutachtet (reviewed) A1 - Fekete, Alexander ED - Prescott, Susan T1 - Safe from Harm? Massive Attack Nuclear Worst-Case Scenario for Civil Protection in Germany Regarding High-Risk Zones of Exposure, Vulnerability, and Safe Havens JF - Challenges N2 - New risk geographies are emerging with war and conflict resurfacing, including nuclear threats. This poses challenges to civil protection for conducting risk-informed preparedness planning. A spatial assessment of Germany and Europe is conducted using a geographic information system. Buffer circles of nuclear explosion effects and fallout buffers show potentially exposed areas around major cities. Different scenarios indicate shrinking areas safe from exposure. However, even in a densely populated country, rural areas and smaller cities can be identified that could provide sites for evacuation shelters. Changing wind directions poses a challenge for civil protection planning because fallout risk covers most German territory even when few cities are attacked. However, wind speeds and topography can help identify suitable shelter areas. More knowledge about the temporal development of a nuclear explosion and its specific forms of harm can also help to improve risk knowledge and planning. While nuclear warfare at first seems to render useless any option for safe areas and survival, the spatial risk assessment shows that exposure does not occur at all places at all times. Being safe from harm will be difficult in such a worst-case scenario, but avoiding large city perimeters and being informed can also help reduce risk. KW - Atomkrieg KW - nuclear war KW - civil defense KW - disaster risk reduction KW - disaster risk management KW - contingency planning KW - fallout KW - GIS KW - evacuation KW - risk geographies KW - Zivilschutz KW - Risikomanagement KW - Evakuierung KW - Geoinformationssystem Y1 - 2022 UN - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hbz:832-epub4-20606 SN - 2078-1547 SS - 2078-1547 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/challe13020047 DO - https://doi.org/10.3390/challe13020047 VL - 13 IS - 2 SP - 19 S1 - 19 PB - MDPI ER -