Preparedness
There are many steps for being prepared for surviving an attack. The chances are not likely to survive, but to boost your chances you can follow certain steps. With surviving through, the world you know will be different. In the chance of a nuclear war, it could mean a end of world scenerio.
If you truly want to survive, you must understand how radiation works. Radiation is not good, the best way to understand it is from our sun. During the Summer, if you stay outside, your skin will observe the sun light coming from our Sun. If too much of this light is absorbed, you can get a sunburn. Some sunburns can be so bad that it can make you sick and give you cancer if you are outside too much in the Sun.
If we look at some of the history with Nuclear Weapons and Accidents, the effects of radiation are worse coming from a nuclear weapon. From some health treatments such as Radiation Therapy, it is used to kill flesh/tissue by overloading it with Gamma Radiation. People that have experienced too much radiation from these treatments experience "Radiation Dermatitis" which causes Redness of the skin, to complete Skin Ulcers.
Sources - https://www.ready.gov/radiation#:~:text=For%20a%20nuclear%20explosion%2C%20if,building%20as%20quickly%20as%20possible, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323155,
A victim of the Chernobyl Accident, First Responder. Active skin peeling, red skin, etc.