Air bursts result in a large dose of initial radiation to the people on the ground, but very little fallout. Ground bursts create much more fallout. Fallout is very survivable, even relatively close to a nuclear explosion site, given a minimum of knowledge and preparation. The fallout levels in the U.S. from even a major exchange between India and Pakistan would be minimal.

Chernobyl is a special case, and it is unwise to compare it to the effects of a bomb.

I remember a ghastly movie called "Testament," which showed up sometime in the early '80s. It documented a family in, as I remember, Marin county after a nuclear attack on San Francisco. The family was untouched by blast or fire effects, but were doomed to horrible deaths by fallout and radiation due primarily to the cosmic butt-ignorance of the mother about the simplest civil defense precautions.

My two favorite scenes (dimly remembered): the people in the neighborhood wandering around outside a huge brick building, wondering how to escape the fallout, and the kids asking their hapless mother if it was okay to eat off the plates with all the "dust" on them.

The movie was intended as an anti-war lecture, but made a much different impression on me. I saw it as a warning against stupidity.

For the record, prevailing winds make Northern California (north of the Bay Area) relatively safe from fallout even after a major attack on the U.S.