India-Pakistan nuke war could kill two billion: Study
Deaths by starvation and climate change would be far greater than casualties caused by atomic blasts
WASHINGTON: Even a limited-scale conflict between India and Pakistan would have catastrophic consequences, killing two billion people worldwide and disrupting global food supplies, a study has warned.
Scientists at Rutgers University analysed six possible scenarios involving nuclear-armed countries that have the firepower to trigger worldwide suffering and deaths.
They found that besides deaths from the atomic exposions, such conflicts would also impact the global climate and cause famine.
These grim findings come at a time when the threat of a full-blown nuclear war is greater than at any time since the Cold War, with mounting tensions between the US and Russia as well as America and China.
Scientists considered a hypothetical situation where a war broke out between India and Pakistan, and both targetted urban centres in the opposing coutry with 250 100-kiloton nuclear weapons.
Such a scenario would kill 127 million people in South Asia alone due to explosions, fires and radiation, the study found.
A full-scale war between the US and Russia – the worst-case scenario – would wipe out well over half of humanity.
Deaths by starvation and climate change would be far greater than casualties caused by atomic blasts
WASHINGTON: Even a limited-scale conflict between India and Pakistan would have catastrophic consequences, killing two billion people worldwide and disrupting global food supplies, a study has warned.
Scientists at Rutgers University analysed six possible scenarios involving nuclear-armed countries that have the firepower to trigger worldwide suffering and deaths.
They found that besides deaths from the atomic exposions, such conflicts would also impact the global climate and cause famine.
These grim findings come at a time when the threat of a full-blown nuclear war is greater than at any time since the Cold War, with mounting tensions between the US and Russia as well as America and China.
Scientists considered a hypothetical situation where a war broke out between India and Pakistan, and both targetted urban centres in the opposing coutry with 250 100-kiloton nuclear weapons.
Such a scenario would kill 127 million people in South Asia alone due to explosions, fires and radiation, the study found.
A full-scale war between the US and Russia – the worst-case scenario – would wipe out well over half of humanity.
