How to Survive a Godzilla Attack

5 min read

It’s coming soon to your city. Fire. Destruction. Chaos. And death. You love to see it in the movies. But are you prepared to see everything you love turned to ashes?

Godzilla is a dinosaur-like monster from Japan, where it is known as Gojira. That’s a word combining gorilla and whale. The giant monster is the result of nuclear weapons thrown in the ocean. It can grow up to 150 m (500 ft) tall, and it has atomic breath that can melt steel with a powerful beam of blue fire. No wonder they call it The King of the Monsters.

By now, you know your chances of surviving alone are pretty slim, but if the whole city works together, you might be able to take this monster down. Where is Godzilla most likely to attack? How could you hurt it? And why would nuclear weapons make everything worse?

If you’re in Oklahoma, Mexico City, Prague or Moscow, don’t panic, because inner cities would be harder for Godzilla to reach. But if you’re at the coast when Godzilla strikes, your chances of being attacked are higher.
So how could a whole town survive this devastating attack?

Step 1. Evacuate

Just before arriving at the coast, this giant beast will cause a tsunami. If people don’t evacuate fast, the water will likely kill them or at least injure them. The protocol from the Mass Evacuation in Natural Disasters from the Camp Coordination and Camp Management in Switzerland dictates that state officials will coordinate the evacuation. People who are unable to leave will be taken to a spontaneous sanctuary site. That’s what they did when Hurricane Katrina hit.

In the meantime, the government would meet in an underground bunker and agree on its humanitarian response and military tactics. The UN would organize emergency relief that includes shelter and food. The military would set up a perimeter around the city, prepared with tanks and firepower against a possible attack, giving citizens extra time to escape.

Step 2. Don’t nuke it

The International Atomic Energy Agency would suggest shutting down every nuclear power station to lower the risk of a nuclear emergency. Atomic energy is what created this monster. So a nuclear bomb would not hurt it, and it could feed Godzilla and make it stronger. But humans would be harmed by radiation and end up with an inhabitable city.

Step 3. Send in the troops

Aerial assaults would launch into action first. B-52s, F-15s and F-22s would all be flying around Godzilla like mosquitoes while trying not to get hit by the monster’s killing breath. Air Force strike teams carry conventional munitions that probably wouldn’t kill the monster. But the white phosphorus and unguided rockets could blind its eyes if they are organic.

Once Godzilla was blind, the military could use B-2 stealth bombers loaded with Massive Ordnance Penetrators. These are 13,607 kg (30,000 lb) precision-guided munitions designed to cut through solid rock. But if the impact angle is not correct, the bombs could deflect off the monster. If the air assaults are ineffective, ground soldiers would be instructed to release heavy fire with missile carrier launchers and surface-to-air missiles.

Step 4. Laser beams

At this point, anything could be used in the fight, even technology that’s still in development. That could include the Dynetics-Lockheed Martin 100-kilowatt High Energy Laser Medium-Tactical Vehicles fleet. Or, as we like to call it, a bunch of trucks with lasers on top of them. In 2019, the companies won a contract to develop and test higher energy laser weapons. And it seems the time to test them is right now. This powerful beam would kill Godzilla or hurt it so much that it would sink back into the ocean.

Step 5. Prepare for the future

If we didn’t kill Godzilla, we’d need to draw up a plan to protect the coasts if Godzilla attacks us again. And even if we kill Godzilla, there could be more giant monsters or “Kaijus” arriving in the future. Including the son of Godzilla or whatever the heck this is.

And governments would have to keep in mind that Godzilla is the direct consequence of human warfare, and make sure that a new attack against it won’t spawn more monsters. The good news is that this giant lizard is completely fictional, so you’ll never have to worry about it. But the bad news is that there are very real lizards on our planet who can be just as scary. They may not have atomic breath, but they do have shark-like teeth that are full of venom. Could you survive a Komodo dragon?