Whether or not you or your family members can survive a nuclear attack depends on a number of things. It depends on the amount of radiation you were exposed to, the length of time you were exposed to it, your age and your overall health.
Gamma rays give off fall out particles that can cause radiation sickness. When radiation hits us it causes a chemical change in the cells in our bodies. If you get a large dose of radiation you will die. Small doses will help your body repair itself and get well. You are also more at risk of getting if you get a large dose over a short time. The same large dose of radiation over a long time is less damaging.
If you receive 0 to 50 radiation exposure then there are no visible effects. If you receive 0 – 200 units then fifty percent of people experience might experience nausea from radiation sickness. If you are exposed to between 200 and 450 then half the people exposed will be dead within two to four weeks. At exposure rates between 450 and 6000 more than 50% of people will be dead within one to three weeks. At amounts over 600 all exposed will be dead in two weeks.
There is not clothing or special drugs that can prevent exposure to radiation. However to prevent radioactive particles from reaching the thyroid many people prepare by stocking up on potassium iodide. When taken as directed potassium iodide floods the thyroid with stabilized iodine. This prevents the radioactive particle from making their way into the body and encourages them to be expelled out body waste channels. Taking potassium iodide tablets can prevent up to 99% of the damage that can be caused to the body through radioactive nuclear fallout.
The best protection against fall out radiation is staying inside a fallout shelter. It is recommended that you stay inside the shelter for at last two weeks and after that leave the shelter for necessities for only a minute or two. A shelter can be the basement or an inside hallway in a large building if you’re at the office. It can be the basement in your home, a subway or tunnel, or even trench that is lined with shielding material.
The federal government determined food would be edible as long as the radiation did not pass through it. The danger would be swallowing fall out particles that happened to fall on the food itself.