Anything with a yield in kilotons (thousands of tons of explosives) is a horrifically devastating weapon. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were kiloton weapons in the two digit range.
The line weapons of the major powers have yields measured in megatons (_millions_ of tons) of explosives.
Only the very largest natural phenomena, such as hurricanes and wildfires, rival a single detonation of these weapons. The effects of setting off hundreds of them are too horrific to be easily imagined or explained, and call into question the survival of humanity on this planet.
The only defense is to run away. (I will spare you a discussion of ABM, MAD, etc. The acronyms of nuclear war are hopefully a demented wargamer's fantasy. But there are hundreds of military officers in each of the major nations for whom this is their day job, their bread and butter.)
I don't agree with our friends at the International Red Cross that these weapons should be banned. Mostly because bans don't work.
But I hope they are never, ever used again in anger against human beings.
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