Analysis: Projected U.S. Deaths by Living Dead
A report was recently released by a U.S. research group analyzing the percentage of deaths throughout regions of the United States by various natural hazards, including lightning, heat, flood and earthquake. While quite comprehensive and insightful, the report fails to include one particular hazard: death by the living dead. This lack of inclusion is logical, as the group’s analysis is limited to that of “natural” hazards, and the contagion that causes the dead to rise and devour the living has yet to be determined to be natural, manufactured, or intergalactic in nature.
Researchers at IUCS have looked to fill this gap, cross referencing the information in the report with quantitative data collected by the undead bio-research policy institute to forecast the probability U.S. regions would fare in an outbreak of the walking dead. The following is their projection map:
While the full report accompanying this analysis was limited to internal distribution and not publicly released, the following data points were provided to the ZCC:
1) Since the variables of a zombie outbreak are too numerous to accurately project widespread infection, a significant portion of this report is speculative. The analysis is based on an equal distribution of simultaneous undead outbreaks across the continental U.S., rather than a small-scale epidemic, or “slow burn,” affecting a particular area and spreading throughout bordering regions.
2) Due to their population density and presence as international travel hubs, both East and West coasts would be severely impacted, regardless of the outbreak type. Major metropolitan cities within these coasts would fare the worst.
3) States which share natural resources such as the Rocky Mountain ridge lines and the Grand Canyon would fare more favorably, both due to obstructive nature of these elements and the lower population density present within these regions.
4) There would most likely be no comprehensive “safe zones” that transcend whole regions of the U.S. Rather, there would be areas of each state that would function as a security-cleared safety nexus. The size and scope of these nexuses would depend of the speed of mobilization by local government, as well as the proximity of undead outbreak. Long-term sustainability of each nexus would depend upon the size and severity of the outbreak, as well as the quality of the security forces manning the zone.
5) Northern regions would have the benefit of winter weather limiting the scope of a potential outbreak, depending on the season, but inclement winter weather would cause as many, if not more fatalities as the living dead.
6) With less means of evacuation, limited access to defensive training, and lack of disposable income to secure adequate weapons, poorer regions of the country would suffer greatly during an undead outbreak, as would regions with the oldest per capita populations.
Additional information will be distributed by the ZCC as it is released.
HQ
has there been a study on Alaska and Hawaii? would think those would be 2 of the preferable locations from a geographic containment standpoint, as well as a weather perspective (hot=rapid decomposition/ cold=deep freeze/atrophy).
gorillasoap,
We sent your question to the IUCS researchers responsible for the report. The following is their response:
“While we limited our scope of research to the continental US, we did note some observations from the two states you mention. Due to the geographic isolation of both regions, the vulnerability of both these states will largely be contingent upon their ability to secure transportation hubs and ports. Hawaii is more exposed in this respect than Alaska. Should the Big Island fail to contain an outbreak quickly, our predictive model shows that most of the seven other islands would be lost within 96 hours. While Hawaii’s climate is tropical, the temperatures are less extreme due to the persistent easterly trade winds. Thus, significant impact on living dead decomposition is negligible.
In the event of a sudden, nationwide undead outbreak, the greatest vulnerability for both of these regions is a tertiary effect of the epidemic - disruption of agricultural commerce. Both states import approximately 90-95% of their food supplies, with Hawaii having less than a seven-day supply of perishables at any given time. Should the living dead cause even a minor disruption of imports, both these states would suffer pronounced food shortages. If a large-scale outbreak severs commercial transportation entirely, the effect on these states would be devastating.”
HQ
WAIT WAIT WAIT IS THERE NO SAFE PLACE IN THE UK? OMG IF THIS HAPPENS AM I GOING TO DIE OMG I DON’T WANT TO DIE!
iwannalive:
There may be no large scale, co-ordinated, government organised safe zones in the UK, but that’s not the same thing as there not being any safe places. Listen to what these people are telling you, work on your fitness and endurance, consider where you’d do and what you’d do when an outbreak occurs. Think about self reliance, survival and planning. There will be safe places - but only if people like you create them.
I was curious as to what exactly std. dev. stands for?
Patimuss, Std Dev. stands for Standard Deviation, which is a measurement of the dispersal rate from the average for that region. In other words, how far off from the average are people in that region perishing from the various causes listed.
Ah i see thank you for the explanation
This is by far the source to go to for ALL of your zombie combat info. If i were a member of “Big Brother”, this would be a required website to talk about at school.
See, zombies are gooing to eventually happen. We cant deny it. Wether it be a “cure for caner” or that “Im not dead yet” gene found in fruit flies. Some way or another somone is going to get the infection and spread it as much as zombily possible. Even though there are zombie movies, and all these zombie games, that will still not prepare us for the reched horror that will face us. SO BE PREPARED, JOIN ZOMBIE COMBAT CLUB BEFORE ITS TO LATE.
Fi-Tor
Proud Member of Zombie Combat Club
I live in South Carolina and I was always under the impression that our risk wasn’t that high. I guess I was wrong, I mean, we do have major cities near here like Charleston, Charlotte, and Savannah.