As part of CND’s efforts to prevent the Russian invasion of Ukraine escalating into a nuclear conflict, we are asking supporters to write to their local press. By doing so, you can warn people in your area of the devastating impact a nuclear confrontation would have and build support for your local authority to become a nuclear ban community!
Using the letter template and website listed below, you can find out how many people would be killed or seriously injured if a nuclear weapon was used near you, and explain how local hospitals would be unable to cope.
Dear XXX,
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues, a lot has been said about the increasing possibility of nuclear war and the UK’s readiness to use its nuclear weapons. Do our leaders realise that nuclear weapons could wreak catastrophic – possibly existential – destruction in minutes? The truth is they must be opposed at all costs.
If a nuclear bomb was dropped on [Insert local city here] centre, xxxx could die (check estimates on https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/) in the initial blast and fire storm. Many more would face terrible injuries. Those living far beyond the immediate area would be affected by radiation leading to conditions ranging from skin burns to cancers, birth defects and loss of eyesight. To think that [X hospital], even if it survived the blast, could deal with such a disaster is unfathomable after a decade of austerity and two years of Covid-19.
Russia and the US have a combined 12,000 nuclear warheads between them, with many up to a hundred times more powerful than the one that devastated Hiroshima in 1945. Their use today would be an unmitigated human and environmental catastrophe – and potentially an existential threat to humanity.
The UK government still refuses to sign up to the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), but those of us opposed to nuclear weapons can still make progress. The people of [insert location here] can join areas like Manchester, Glasgow and Merthyr Tydfil, by calling on their local authority to sign up to the TPNW and become a Nuclear Ban Community. By advocating for a ban on the local level, we can give a clear signal to Westminster that we do not tolerate the threat of nuclear annihilation.
Yours,
XXX