In Time of Emergency Part 5

This information probably would be given on the radio, which is one reason why you should keep on hand a battery-powered radio that works in your shelter area.

If you came out of shelter too soon, while the fallout particles outside were still highly radioactive, you might receive enough radiation to make you sick or even kill you.

Remember that _fallout particles_ can be seen, but the _rays_ they give off cannot be seen. If you see unusual quant.i.ties of gritty particles outside (on window ledges, sidewalks, cars, etc.) after an attack, you should a.s.sume that they are fallout particles, and therefore stay inside your shelter until you are told it is safe to come out.

CHAPTER 5

IMPROVISING FALLOUT PROTECTION

SUMMARY

BEFORE AN EMERGENCY

1. If there is no public fallout shelter near your home and you have decided _not_ to prepare a permanent or preplanned shelter in your bas.e.m.e.nt or yard, make sure that you have on hand _now_ the materials and tools needed to improvise an emergency shelter at home. These would include s.h.i.+elding material (for an inside shelter), and lumber and a shovel (for an outside shelter).

DURING AN EMERGENCY

1. If you have no better shelter to go to, improvise an emergency shelter at home.

2. Usually, the best place for an improvised shelter would be in your bas.e.m.e.nt or storm cellar.

3. If you don't have a bas.e.m.e.nt or storm cellar, you might be able to improvise a shelter in the crawl s.p.a.ce under your house, outside in your yard, or (as a last resort) on the ground floor of your house. In some places, a boat would provide some fallout protection.

IMPROVISING FALLOUT PROTECTION

If an enemy attack should occur when you are at home, and you have made no advance shelter preparations, you still might be able to improvise a shelter either inside or outside your house. In a time of emergency, the radio broadcasts may tell you whether you have time to improvise a shelter or should take cover immediately.

An improvised shelter probably would not give you as much protection as a permanent or a preplanned family shelter, but any protection is better than none, and might save your life.

The best place to improvise a shelter would be the bas.e.m.e.nt or storm cellar, if your home has one.

s.h.i.+ELDING MATERIAL NEEDED

To improvise a shelter you would need s.h.i.+elding materials such as those mentioned on page 25--concrete blocks, bricks, sand, etc. Other things could also be used as s.h.i.+elding material, or to support s.h.i.+elding material, such as:

--House doors that have been taken off their hinges (especially heavy outside doors).

--Dressers and chests (fill the drawers with sand or earth after they are placed in position, so they won't be too heavy to carry and won't collapse while being carried).

--Trunks, boxes and cartons (fill them with sand or earth after they are placed in position).

--Tables and bookcases.

--Large appliances (such as washers and dryers).

--Books, magazines, and stacks of firewood or lumber.

--Flagstones from outside walks and patios.

IMPROVISING A BAs.e.m.e.nT SHELTER

Here are two ways of improvising fallout protection in the bas.e.m.e.nt of a home:

Set up a large, st.u.r.dy table or workbench in the corner of your bas.e.m.e.nt that is most below ground level.

On the table, pile as much s.h.i.+elding material as it will hold without collapsing. Around the table, place as much s.h.i.+elding material as possible.

When family members are "inside the shelter"--that is, under the table--block the opening with other s.h.i.+elding material.

If you don't have a large table or workbench available--or if more shelter s.p.a.ce is needed--place furniture or large appliances in the corner of the bas.e.m.e.nt so they will serve as the "walls" of your shelter.

As a "ceiling" for it, use doors from the house that have been taken off their hinges. On top of the doors, pile as much s.h.i.+elding material as they will support. Stack other s.h.i.+elding material around the "walls" of your shelter.

When all persons are inside the shelter s.p.a.ce, block the opening with s.h.i.+elding material.

USING A STORM CELLAR FOR FALLOUT PROTECTION

A below-ground storm cellar can be used as an improvised fallout shelter, but additional s.h.i.+elding material may be needed to provide adequate protection from fallout radiation.

If the existing roof of the storm cellar is made of wood or other light material, it should be covered with one foot of earth or an equivalent thickness of other s.h.i.+elding material (see page 25) for overhead s.h.i.+elding from fallout. More posts or braces may be needed to support the extra weight.

After the roof has been s.h.i.+elded, better protection can be provided by blocking the entrance way with 8-inch concrete blocks or an equivalent thickness of sandbags, bricks, earth or other s.h.i.+elding material, after all occupants are inside the shelter. A few inches should be left open at the top for air. After particles have stopped falling, the outside door may be left open to provide better ventilation.

If s.h.i.+elding material is not available for the entrance way, shelter occupants should stay as far away from it as possible. They also should raise the outside door of the storm cellar now and then to knock off any fallout particles that may have collected on it.

USING THE CRAWL s.p.a.cE UNDER YOUR HOUSE

Some homes without bas.e.m.e.nts have "crawl s.p.a.ce" between the first floor and the ground underneath the house. If you have this s.p.a.ce under your house--and if the house is set on foundation walls, rather than on pillars--you can improvise fallout protection for your family there.

First, get access to the crawl s.p.a.ce through the floor or through the outside foundation wall. (A trapdoor or other entry could be made now, before an emergency occurs.)

As the location for your shelter, select a crawl-s.p.a.ce area that is under the center of the house, as far away from the outside foundation walls as possible.

Around the selected shelter area, place s.h.i.+elding material-- preferably bricks or blocks, or containers filled with sand or earth--from the ground level up to the first floor of the house, so that the s.h.i.+elding material forms the "walls" of your shelter area. On the floor above, place other s.h.i.+elding material to form a "roof" for the shelter area.

If time permits, dig out more earth and make the shelter area deeper, so you can stand erect or at least sit up in it.