Only 'two countries' would survive nuclear war after '5 billion die in 72 hours', says expert

There is a chance that around five billion people will die in just 72 hours in the event of nuclear war.

Happy Wednesday, everyone.

Though I'm sure you read the headline beforehand and are well prepared for some depressing insight into the future of humanity.

In this case, we have Annie Jacobsen to thank, an investigative journalist, New York Times bestselling author, and a 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist.

The 56-year-old from Connecticut, US, has spent years researching the possible effects of nuclear war and she claims that there are only two countries where you might, I repeat, might survive.

Annie Jacobsen has spent years researching the possible effects of a nuclear war. (YouTube/The Diary Of A CEO)

The reason being that nuclear attacks would cause a thick smoke from burning fires to spread across the three continents, ultimately causing a mini ice-age.

This would most likely kill five billion of the eight billion people on earth within 72 hours.

She explained on Steven Bartlett's Diary Of A CEO podcast: "Most of the world, certainly the mid-latitudes would be covered in sheets of ice …places like Iowa and Ukraine would be just snow for 10 years.

"Agriculture would fail, and when agriculture fails people just die.

"On top of that you have the radiation poisoning because the ozone layer will be so damaged and destroyed that you couldn't be outside in the sunlight – people will be forced to live underground."

Only two countries have the chance of surviving a nuclear war. (Getty Stock Images)

Jacobsen said that Professor Brian Toon, a leading expert on climate and atmospheric science, told her that only two countries could potentially survive a nuclear winter - New Zealand and Australia, who can 'sustain agriculture'.

The expert also opened up about the story of former US Secretary of Defence Bill Perry and the idea of a nuclear war happening by accident.

“He was on the night watch during the Carter Administration … he was told by the National Military Command Centre, which is the bunker beneath the Pentagon, that there were ballistic missiles on the way from Soviet Russia," she said.

“This was confirmed by the nuclear bunker beneath Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska the STRATCOM (Strategic Command) bunker.

"Not only were intercontinental ballistic missiles flying at the United States but there were sub-launched ballistic missiles coming at the United States. It was a massive motherlode of warheads.

“Within a matter of minutes he got word that it was a mistake – how does a mistake like that happen?

“What he told me was that there was a VHS tape of a simulated attack by the Soviet Union against the United States and the VHS tape had mistakenly been inserted into a machine in the nuclear bunker beneath the Pentagon and because it is linked to STRATCOM it was seen in both places.

"Perry said to me it looked real because it was meant to look real.”