New York and New Jersey have begun preparing for a possible nuclear attack following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s atomic threats.
Both East Coast states have started deploying public service announcements geared toward prepping citizens in the event of a nuclear attack in the U.S.
In New York, the city’s emergency management department released a video PSA that begins with a narrator saying: “So there’s been a nuclear attack. Don’t ask me how or why, just know that the big one has hit. OK? So, what do we do?”
In New Jersey, public buses are featuring transit ads on their sides asking “Do you know what to do in a radiation emergency?”
Similar ads have also been spotted in New Jersey shopping malls and even inside New York City subways.
Experts, however, criticized the PSAs for lacking lifesaving information pertinent to this type of catastrophic event.
“These ads are likely to cause panic, but lack the most basic information that could save millions of lives outside the zone of complete destruction,” said Dr. Jane Orient, president of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness. “[The ads seem] designed to get people cowering inside indefinitely and depending on a totally unprepared government.”
Orient said that the most important tip for this type of crisis is nowhere to be found in the said ads, which is to drop to the ground behind or under any available cover if you see a bright flash.
She also recommends that Americans familiarize themselves with the 60-second training card. It features helpful tips such as keeping your eyes closed to prevent blindness and protecting yourself against burns.
This comes as Putin escalated his war against Ukraine by illegally annexing four Ukrainian regions and threatened to use nuclear weapons against the U.S.
“In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff,” he said.
According to Russia’s nuclear doctrine, a nuclear strike is allowed after “aggression against the Russian Federation with conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is threatened.”
