How far to evacuate?

[Scythe13]

(15 December 2013, 13:58)Highlander Wrote:

(15 December 2013, 10:20)Scythe13 Wrote: 'The Rule of Thumb': If you can put your arm out with your thumb up, and squint, if your thumb is covering the area of effect, you're out of the threat zone. That could be quite some distance, depending how close you are to the area of effect.

...I have read this several times,..and for the life of me, I cant understand that

It's basically a rule to make sure you're a safe distance from a biological or chemical attack. If you're near the area of effect, it could be quite a distance to move until you're out of the way. If it's pretty localised and you're not too near to it, you can easily enough just turn tail and get moving away from it.

Imagine a city that's been hit with a bio agent. To get away from it, the way to check you're a safe distance, turn back, put your thumb up, squint and if you can't see the city, because your thumb is blocking it, then you're a safe distance. Even if the wind is blowing towards you, the distance you'd have to be away so that your thumb covers the area of effect, e.g. the city in this example.

I hope that helps explain it?