Maps show the devastation of Europe, if nuclear bomb dropped there

Was YOUR home at risk? Terrifying maps reveal the devastation America’s cold war nuclear arsenal would have wreaked on Europe’s largest cities [EXCELLENT PHOTOS] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3588721/Is-home-risk-Terrifying-map-reveals-devastation-nuclear-fallout-cause-Europe-s-popular-cities.html

Map shows what the terrible effects of nuclear fallout might look it if a bomb was to be dropped on European cities
Estimates number of fatalities and injuries in cities such as Warsaw and Berlin, for example
Other maps show result of 1,100 targets being hit simultaneously in a nuclear exchange between the US and Russia

By SARAH GRIFFITHS FOR MAILONLINE 14 May 2016

The image of the atomic bomb and accompanying devastation in Hiroshima is seared into many people’s minds.

Now there’s a collection of maps that show what the terrible effects of nuclear fallout might look it if a similar bomb was to be dropped on cities in Europe.

The researchers used data from a declassified list of US nuclear targets compiled in 1956 in the midst of the Cold War, while a second map shows what would happen if all 1,100 of the US’ targets – across China, Europe, Russia and North Korea – were hit by nuclear bombs at once.

To use the interactive tool visit the Future of Life Institute’s website

The terrifying maps, showing a potential nuclear exchange between the US and Russia, were created by the Future of Life Institute (FLI) and

Stevens Institute of Technology researcher Alex Wellerstein, who previously created the ‘NukeMap’

The two superpowers are thought to possess 93 per cent of the world’s nuclear arsenal, with Europe potentially caught in the crossfire.

For example, it shows detonating a 1,200 kiloton (kt) bomb in the centre of Berlin would probably result in 160,830 fatalities and 1,354,400 injuries, as well as flattening iconic landmarks such as the Brandenburg Gate and the Fernsehturm.

Similarly, if France’s largest warhead – a 300kt bomb was dropped on Moskva, Russia, it would result in 611,190 fatalities and 1,861,240 injuries.

The Institute notes volatile weather could cause devastation in a neighbouring country to that of the target.

A second map depicts a fortunately unlikely scenario that would see all 1,000 targets hit by nuclear bombs between 50kt and 10,000kt in size on a certain day, showing how local weather patterns push the fallout away from its target.

A third set of maps show the impact of a bombs being dropped on three consecutive days in April this year.

The aim of the maps is to remind of the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons and whether it is a good idea for powerful countries to stockpile nukes, when others will be caught in the crossfire if they are ever used.

Alarmingly, the FLI says today’s target list probably don’t look too different to the one compiled in the Cold War, when people feared nuclear fallout daily.

It said the US has around 1,900 nuclear warheads deployed on missiles and bombers, with thousands in reserve, which could be launched at a moment’s notice to hit targets within 30 minutes.

‘This unstable situation is extremely risky and has repeatedly come close to triggering nuclear war by accident,’ the Institute explained.

And today’s bombs would have even more catastrophic consequences than Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The FLI said that enough bombs were dropped and a ‘nuclear winter’ sparked, most of the Earth’s seven billion people would die as winds spread soot across the sky to block the sun