A Nuclear War Between Indian And Pakistan May Cause A Global Disaster

Indian and Pakistan's ongoing tension has led to some scientists coming up with theories of what may happen if the two nations turn against each other.

Some researchers made a simplified simulated model of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan and they announced that such an event would result in the death of around 50 million to 125 million people if the latter attacked Indian cities with nuclear weapons. The model is set to happen in the year 2025. Another similar death toll is to be expected if India hit Pakistan with 100-kiloton atomic bombs.

That is not all; the millions of death are just the immediate result of the use of atomic weapons in the war. Other long-term effects are disasters on a global scale that can have a negative impact on the production of food. Worse, we may face mass starvation if such a war happens, not to mention the effect on the Earth’s ecosystems.

We may have to put up with a severely low temperature that the Earth experienced in the last Ice Age. This is the result of plumes from burning cities blocking sunlight, isolating our planet from the heat of the Sun.

According to Colorado University’s professor Owen Toon, Pakistan and India’s relationship has caused concern because of the two countries’ tension, especially the recent ones. Other factors are the rapid rates of the development of the two nations’ atomic arsenal, as well as the failing effort to resolve problems related to territories.

He also added that we could possibly see the first time ever in the history of humanity the fatality resulted from a war between two countries doubles that of the death rate from natural causes of the whole world. This stemmed from the thermal and nuclear radiation and the short-term impact of a nuclear explosion.

Researchers have reasons to believe that the ongoing conflict could lead to a devastating nuclear war.

Earlier this year, we saw a dispute over the Kashmir region between Pakistan, China, and India, which led to the death of over 300 people.

The current arms race means that the total number of nuclear weapons these countries own may increase from 300 to up to 500 in the next five years. The regional damage is unavoidable but such a war can result in a more widespread impact on the whole world.

With the observation of the result of the Hiroshima nuclear bomb, researchers are able to predict how much smoke a war like that may throw into the Earth’s atmosphere.

With a simulation model used to calculate the impact of the asteroid crash that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, the researchers were able to estimate the effect on the global production of food as well as the climate.

What they found out is that as much as 36 billion kilograms carbon would be released to the atmosphere as a result of burning cities. That amount of smoke can block the Sun and cool the Earth’s surface down by five degrees Celsius. A decrease of up to 30% in the rainfall rate can lead to worldwide famine.

The current situation has become more severe than when the Cold War happened. Back then, only a few nations were capable of participating in a nuclear war. Now, we have nine nations possessing a total of approximately 14,000 nuclear weapons.