Few things show how uniquely unfit humanity is to be the custodian of planet Earth as our insatiable need for the production and use of all forms of weapons of destruction.

Humanity’s insanely destructive character is epitomised by the nuclear bomb. The global nuclear arsenal is capable of destroying all life on earth many times over! Who exactly is going to be around to count the second time?

We have been conditioned to accept this state of affairs without blinking an eyelid. It is time to get our heads out of the sand and wake up to the reality of the world we have created.

The atom is the smallest particle of a chemical element that can exist. At its centre is a nucleus. A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from the splitting (fission) and/or combining (fusion) of the nuclei of the atoms of Uranium-235 and Plutonium-239 and the resulting chain reaction.

One can only stand in awe at what humanity is able to do. One also stands horrified at the absolute absence of any moral compass in the humans that think nuclear weapons are justified.

The destructive power of a nuclear weapon is measured in kilotons or megatons. A one kiloton explosion is an explosion equivalent to 1,000 tons of TNT (similar to dynamite). A megaton is the equivalent of 1 million tons of TNT.

Fifty per cent of the destructive power of a nuclear warhead comes from the blast, 35 per cent from thermal energy (burning) and 15 per cent from nuclear radiation. A one megaton explosion would kill all life forms in the radius of 1km and 50 per cent in the radius of 8km on impact, the rest dying soon after of radiation, burns or injuries from building collapse. The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 had a combined power of 35 kilotons. They killed around 230,000 Japanese civilians. Original photos from the time are not from the fainthearted.

Countries such as America and North Korea are simply playing poker with our lives

Unclassified US government documents tell us that top US officials of the day stated it was unnecessary to drop these bombs to end the war with Japan because it had already proposed terms of surrender via allied countries. Top US military brass are on record as having shown deep regret (a bit late) at this barbaric act committed by America. The general consensus is that the bombs were dropped in order to intimidate Russia. This is the world we live in.

There are 15,000 nuclear warheads (bombs) in the world with a combined destructive power of 6,900 megatons. This is 200,000 times the explosion unleashed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. About 92 per cent of these warheads are held more or less equally by the Russians and Americans.

The Soviet Union carried out a nuclear bomb test in 1961 at Mityushikha Bay, north of the Arctic Circle. The bomb had a destructive power of 50 megatons – just to put this in perspective: a 100 megaton explosion would crack the tectonic plate of the planet causing massive earthquakes and tsunamis. The blast caused total destruction in a radius of 34 miles. At 100 miles people would have got third degree burns. The blast was hotter than the centre of the sun.

If one is not killed by the blast of a nuclear explosion, by collapsing buildings or carbonised on impact, then one is likely to die from exposure to radiation in the following six months. Radiation creates blood disorders (such as leukaemia), malignant tumours and a myriad of complications. Children born to mothers exposed to radiation are likely to have abnormalities. Burns do not heal but form twisted mounds of flesh called keloids. Radioactive dust and ash from the explosion is propelled into the higher atmosphere and this literally falls out of the sky (fallout) over a much larger area contaminating all it touches.

A nuclear radiation cloud blocks 90 per cent of sunlight – you can see how one explosion would dramatically affect the climate in the region and multiple explosions would have an effect on the climate the whole world over.

I hope to have well portrayed the hellish destructive power we have created and recklessly play around with. There cannot be any justification for nuclear weapons.

In at least two instances the world was on the verge of a nuclear holocaust averted by the action of two individuals. The first was in 1962 when second submarine captain Vasili Arkhipov stopped short the deployment of a 15 kiloton torpedo while being bombarded by American depth charges in Cuban waters. The second was in 1983 when Stanislav Petrov, mistaking a US military exercise on the Russian border for an attack, decided not to report it to higher authorities. One defensive or pre-emptive nuclear strike would unleash hell on earth within four minutes. There are many other instances when the clock ticked three minutes to midnight while we all lived our blissfully ignorant lives.

We have been led to believe that the nuclear deterrent promotes peace, as one strike would provoke a counter strike and as everybody loses, nobody would do it. This logic is both disingenuous and ridiculous. People are not rational. If people were rational we would not have nuclear weapons in the first place. Countries such as America and North Korea are simply playing poker with our lives.

Peace is not a game of brinkmanship but a choice born of wisdom and an understanding of life. Worldwide nuclear disarmament is the only answer and all governments, including our own, should urgently promote this cause.

Mark-Anthony Falzon is not appearing this week.