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 near the center of the explosion is completely vaporized or whether it is simply knocked into a pile of rubble.

To be more specific, a modern atomic bomb can do heavy damage to houses and buildings roughly 2 miles away. But doubling its power will extend the range of damage to only about 2½ miles. In the same way, if there were a bomb 100 times as powerful, it would reach out only a little more than 4½, not 100 times as far.

And remember: All these calculations of your chances of survival assume that you have absolutely no advance warning of the attack.

Just like fire bombs and ordinary high explosives, atomic weapons cause most of their death and damage by blast and heat. So first let's look at a few things you can do to escape these two dangers.

Even if you have only a second's warning, there is one important thing you can do to lessen your chances of injury by blast: Fall flat on your face.

More than half of all wounds are the result of being bodily tossed about or being struck by falling and flying objects. If you lie down flat, you are least likely to be thrown about. If you have time to pick a good spot, there is less chance of your being struck by flying glass and other things.

If you are inside a building, the best place to flatten out is close against the cellar wall. If you 6