The map above simulates a 300-kiloton nuclear airburst over Dhaka, Bangladesh — roughly the size of a modern deployed warhead. The coloured rings show the estimated fireball, the zones of heavy, moderate and light blast damage, the reach of the thermal flash and the ionizing-radiation dose. Drag the marker or change the weapon in the full simulator to explore other scenarios.
The metropolitan area is home to about 23.2 million people — the rings above are drawn to real scale over their homes.
The marker is over Gulshan and Banani, the diplomatic and business district in the north of the city. The 1.9 km zone of total destruction covers Gulshan's lakeside towers, embassies and the Banani commercial area; the 4.7 km collapse ring reaches Mohakhali, Baridhara, Tejgaon's industrial zone and the edge of the cantonment. Third-degree burns extend to about 7.5 km, over Mirpur's eastern half, Uttara's southern edge, Farmgate and Rampura; the 14.5 km ring of broken windows covers the old city on the Buriganga, Motijheel, Dhanmondi, the university and the airport.
Dhaka is probably the most densely populated large city in the world: about 23 million people in the metropolitan area and more than 40,000 per square kilometre in the older wards. Nearly all of the 14.5 km ring is built-up, low-lying floodplain with no shelter. Bangladesh has no nuclear weapons; its two giant neighbours, India and China, do. The methodology page explains how the casualty estimate on this page is derived from population grids.
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