First off - are we talking the slow, shambling type zombie, or something more along the lines of 28 Days Later where the things are fast and vicious?
Either way - things aren't going to be good.
Second – I agree with Turgenev, read All Flesh Must Be Eaten. It covers a lot of this stuff in the various “dead world” settings.
Now, to your questions:
1. What are the procedures that the government would do to attempt to quarantine a zombie epidemic?
I imagine they would try to set up a quarantine area around the infected area. If it was a city then martial law would probably be instated, but not before the major arteries of the city could be blocked by the military and at least a basic perimeter set around the city (at least that is what I’d do). At the very worst then I'd expect them to burn the place to the ground, then sweep the infected area with troops to ensure everything stayed dead. Think of the movie Outbreak and how they cut off the town where it was real bad.
2. How would a national zombie epidemic start affecting the other parts of the world?
If it started in the US you can pretty much count Canada and South America as well, since any outbreak in the US would spread there fast.
I think it would throw a wrench it almost any facet of the world economy, political structure and world policy. Without the American continent (both North and South) gone a good deal of many countries exports would cease (such as Japan, where something like 90% of their exportation goes to the US (IIRC), throwing their economies into the toilet.
Places that survive of US food stuffs (such as some African countries, North Korea and more places then I can think of) and other US-backed foreign aid would crumble into chaos pretty fast.
The UN would suffer as well because the US forces that were out for "peacekeeping" would probably be drawn back to the states to fight the zombies, or at the very least get the hell out of dodge to a safer place then some third world nation where people want to shoot em.
I can only think the whole of the equation would be a boatload of smaller wars on a world wide scale as the poop hits the fan and countries scramble for resources. (Or at least in a game that is what I would do, eliminates the "maybe country x will help us" idea).
3. What would the military do if there was a zombie epidemic?
With a government to lead them: Fight the zombies as best they can, probably using both old and new military bases as both refugee camps and bases to work from. They would also have to take on the roll of importing the things the military needs to run, fuel, ammo, etc. from other countries.
Without a government: Probably work together for a while and as bases fell they would stop looking at the nation wide picture and worry more about the local area. The states would become a collection of rag tag armies out patrolling their neck of the woods, with infighting as they try to control key things such as working power plants, fuel depots, farm land, etc.
4. What would happen to the economy if there was a zombie epidemic?
It would die. If the entirety of the US is affected then most forms of transport will not be viable (either because of military forces blocking them to make quarantine areas, or because it is to darn dangerous). Once transportation stops the engine of Capitalism would seize up. If it is an apocalyptic zombie scenario there wouldn't be enough people left in the work force to restart everything. First you'd need to get power back, then clean everything up, then repair all the damage, then get the economy back. That takes a lot of time and knowledge that may simply not be around after zombies.
5. How would a zombie epidemic most likely spread across the U.S.?
Depends on the incubation time. If it happens fast (ala 28 Days later) then it would be a slow migration because the victims couldn't travel to far before turning and attacking everyone.
If it is a long incubation period (say 2-3 days before you "turn") then it would spread rapidly as people traveled around in planes, trains, busses, etc. to all the areas of the US.
If it is a biological weapon then it would depend on the weapon. If it is only gotten through, say, an infected water source someone would have to travel around the US dispensing it, which would take a while.
If it is something else that sweeps the nation for no known reason (like a comet) then it will spread as fast as the agent that is dispensing it.
6. What would happen to broadcasting signals, television channels, satellites, and radio stations if there was a zombie epidemic?
They might stay up for a while, but after a while they would be dead except for the random times people hold the building long enough to broadcast. There might be some places with stations that would be able to broadcast 24/7, but they would have to be in protected zone.
I imagine that the most popular form of communication would be radio or CB. Radios take much less juice then a TV to intercept communications (especially if you are on the move and can't lug around a lot of gear). CB's would probably get popular because of the two feature.
7. How many buildings, establishments, and homes have their own personal power generators?
I would put that at 3-5 percent of the households in the US. It's low. You'd probably be more likely to find them in places that lose power a lot due to storms (mid-west, northeast), as well as in the homes of people who do things like hunt, have a good in construction or something else where you may need a mobile power source. I've met very few people who have their own generators (maybe 1 in 15 or 20, and that is being generous). During the first few days of a nation wide epidemic I'd think that things like generators, fuel for them, as well as survival items would be high in demand by people buying them as well as looters.
8. In your opinion, what would be the zombie/survivor ratio?
Insane Amount of zombies/1. There would be pockets of survivors, but with most of the nations populace in tightly packed metropolitan areas the number of zombies to living people would be outrageous. You get a few infected in a place like LA or New York and the Zombie population would grow exponentially until they couldn't feed anymore and died out or ran out of food. Most people aren't survivors, and would be easy prey for the zombies, so it would (in my opinion) be easy for the zombies numbers to swell very rapidly, then die out slowly as the food source ran out.
9. If it was ever mentioned anywhere, how long does a zombie take to 'die of starvation'?
If they have no food whatsoever I'd use the same rules as a normal human. Maybe give them a few extra days because of their odd nature.
10. What are the physiological explanations given to the existence of zombies?
1: Biotech - an experiment went horribly wrong (ala Resident Evil) and boom! Zombies.
2: They aren't dead, they are just crazy: It's not that the people are zombies, they have contracted some odd *natural* virus that makes em stone-cold nuts. The virus also boosts their body with adrenaline that they don't feel pay (which is why nothing but a headshot kills them, because it stops all the brain functions).
3: Something from outer space: Eh - it's from space. We don't know what it is. We'll get back to you sooner...or later.
4: Maybe those Bible Thumpers were right: It is the end of days and the dead are really rising, and Armageddon is them rolling over the world. So much for not taking Revelations literally Pastor Bob.
11. What other issues would come up if a zombie epidemic were to occur?
1: Who would come over to claim the US/Canada/South America? After a few years someone would think that the Americas are just to much of a good thing to let go to waste. They establish a few beach heads and start to clean up.
2: The Canticle for Lebowitz offers another outcome (although in that book the end of the world came from nukes): If the outbreak was from science their could be a huge (probably religiously driven) set of fanatics that want to destroy anything and everything that is called "knowledge", since that is what destroyed us. If no one knows about it, they can't recreate it.
3: Would whatever caused the zombies to rise stick around? If so, would society have to adjust to the fact that the dead don't stay dead unless you burn em up (or any other method that would render the body useless). What other health issues would come up as these things died and whatever drove them is saturated into the water table? Would we have to worry about zombie-babies? Could the virus be persistent enough to modify everything in the eco-system from the ground up so that in infects everything? If it does that, how long until it spread through the rest of the world?
What would you do in the event of a zombie epidemic?
First, I'd have to change my pants.
Then, I'd pray.
Then it's off to the nearest outdoor store and load up on all the stuff that I used in Boy Scouts. Dehydrated food, water purification systems/tablets, first aid kits, sleeping bags, backpacks, fishing poles, outdoor gear (pants, shirts, socks, jackets, etc.), hatchets, knives, (you'd want multiples because the stuff will wear down eventually), tents, tarps, and last but not least: guns and ammo. Game hunting rifles w/ scopes, hand guns, shotguns and enough ammunition as I could pack in my now overstuff vehicle.
Then hit the local hardware store to get as much construction material as i could get. If i have to fix or fortify my house (if i choose to even stay there) then i could do it. Hit the gardening section for seeds of anything remotely edible that I could grow.
Somewhere in there also hit the grocery store. Grab anything canned or jarred. I may not like it, but it's food. Grab bottled water, Gatorade, maybe some soda (hey - just cause it's the end of the world doesn't mean I have to go w/o my Pepsi.)
Hit the liquor store. Nuff said.
If their is time: Hit the library and grab books. Encyclopedias, the "classics" (mythology, art, many of the books they made me read in high school), kids books, and a rag tag assortment of anything else that grabs my fancy. A great deal of knowledge of both science and history would be lost if this thing went global (which, knowing the human race, we'd do something stupid to let it go global), so that knowledge would need to be preserved. Reading, writing, arithmetic, that would all need to be passed on.
If it got really bad then it's goodbye home and head for the hills. Deep into em too. The farther from cities, towns, etc. the better.
Then, once again, I’d pray.
After that, who knows.
