[ Better than Googling it...read the book “One Second After” ...
I’ve read it and while it is fiction, I don’t doubt that’s exactly what will happen. ]
I think about 50% of our electrical devices will be crapped out after a mid nation space based EMP. 20% will work for a while but be damaged enough to where they will fizzle out ahead of time. The rest will continue to work and will be items with more robust circitry, thinks like refrigerators will still work as they have a steel “shell” around them that is grounded and most of them have simple circitry. Microwaves may survive if they are heavy duty shielded types, cheap one will more than likely break.
The main issue will be the electrical grid. It will take a while to bring it back online and a lot of people in hospitals may die in the meantime. People who work IT jobs will be in a nightmare as they wait for new parts to get in from China.
It will be very very very bad, but not “Post apocalyptic”. Most of us will get knocked down to the 60’s after the power is restored 2-3 weeks after the initial attack. It may be the only thing that actually “Wakes up the Sleeping Giant”.
“Most of us will get knocked down to the 60’s after the power is restored 2-3 weeks after the initial attack.”
Sorry, but it would be far worse. The pulse would take out the circuitry in most modern vehicles; any vehicle made after 1985 or so would be in danger of never running again. This would completely halt all food transportation and refrigeration, without which we cannot re-supply store shelves.
The government commission on this danger released a statement predicting that we could see up to 90% casualties in the first year after a major pulse event, most deaths due to starvation or the inevitable violence that would happen.
There is also an issue with the transformers. People in the business have said that it would take months to years to manufacture and transport the number of transformers needed to completely restore power. Most of the equipment isn’t even made in the US, and we would be dependent on China to supply them... fat chance.
This is a very great danger.
within 2 weeks after the bomb goes off, panic will set in. This scenario is truly horrible, and unavoidable I believe.
Disease, lack of food at the end of 2 weeks, scary