FALLOUT SHELTERS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE
After a nuclear attack, fallout particles would drift down on most areas of this country. To protect themselves from the radiation given off by these particles, people in affected areas would have to stay in fallout shelters for 2 or 3 days to as long as 2 weeks. Many people would go to public fallout shelters, while others--through choice or necessity--would take refuge in private or home fallout shelters.
Identifying Public Shelters
Most communities now have public fallout shelters that would protect many of their residents against fallout radiation. Where there are still not enough public shelters to accommodate all citizens, efforts are being made to provide more. In the meantime, local governments plan to make use of the best available shelter.
Most of the existing public shelters are located in larger buildings and are marked with this standard yellow-and-black fallout shelter sign. Other public shelters are in smaller buildings, subways, tunnels, mines and other facilities. These also are marked with shelter signs, or would be marked in a time of emergency.
Learn the Locations of Public Shelters
An attack might come at any hour of the day or night. Therefore you should find out now the locations of those public fallout shelters designated by your local government for your use. If no designations have yet been made, learn the locations of public shelters that are nearest to you when you are at home, work, school, or any other place where you spend considerable time.
This advice applies to all members of the family. Your children especially should be given clear instructions now on where to find a fallout shelter at all times of the day, and told what other actions they should take in case an attack should occur.
A Home Shelter May Save Your Life
Public fallout shelters usually offer some advantages over home shelters. However, in many places--especially suburban and rural areas--there are few public shelters. If there is none near you, a home fallout shelter may save your life.
The basements of some homes are usable as family fallout shelters as they now stand, without any alterations or changes--especially if the house has two or more stories, and its basement is below ground level.
However, most home basements would need some improvements in order to shield their occupants adequately from the radiation given off by fallout particles. Usually, householders can make these improvements themselves, with moderate effort and at low cost. Millions of homes have been surveyed for the U.S. Office of Civil Defense by the U.S. Census Bureau, and these householders have received information on how much fallout protection their basements would provide, and how to improve this protection.
Shielding Material Is Required
In setting up any home fallout shelter, the basic aim is to place enough "shielding material" between the people in the shelter and the fallout particles outside.
Shielding material is any substance that would absorb and deflect the invisible rays given off by fallout particles outside the house, and thus reduce the amount of radiation reaching the occupants of the shelter. The thicker or denser the shielding material is, the more it would protect the shelter occupants.
Some radiation protection is provided by the existing, standard walls and ceiling of a basement. But if they are not thick or dense enough, other shielding material will have to be added.
Concrete, bricks, earth and sand are some of the materials that are dense or heavy enough to provide fallout protection. For comparative purposes, 4 inches of concrete would provide the same shielding density as:
--5 to 6 inches of bricks.
--6 inches of sand or gravel . . . .\ May be packed into bags, cartons, boxes,
--7 inches or earth. . . . . . . . ./ or other containers for easier handling.
--8 inches of hollow concrete blocks (6 inches if filled with sand).
--10 inches of water.
--14 inches of books or magazines.
--18 inches of wood.
If there is no public fallout shelter near your home, or if you would prefer to use a family-type shelter in a time of attack, you should prepare a home fallout shelter. Here is how to do it:
A PERMANENT BASEMENT SHELTER. If your home basement--or one corner of it--is below ground level, your best and easiest action would be to prepare a permanent-type family shelter there. The required shielding material would cost perhaps $100-$200, and if you have basic carpentry or masonry skills you probably could do the work yourself in a short time.
Here are three methods of providing a permanent family shelter in the "best" corner of your home basement--that is, the corner which is most below ground level. If you decide to set up one of these shelters, first get the free plan for it by writing to Civil Defense, Army Publications Center, 2800 Eastern Blvd. (Middle River), Baltimore, Md. 21220. In ordering a plan, use the full name shown for it.
If nearly all your basement is below ground level, you can use this plan to build a fallout shelter area in one corner of it, without changing the appearance of it or interfering with its normal peacetime use.
However, if 12 inches or more of the basement wall is above ground level, this plan should not be used unless you add the "optional walls" shown in the sketch.
Overhead protection is obtained by screwing plywood sheets securely to the joists, and then filling the spaces between the joists with bricks or concrete blocks. An extra beam and a screwjack column may be needed to support the extra weight.
Building this shelter requires some basic woodworking skills and about $150-$200 for materials. It can be set up while the house is being built, or afterward.
Alternate Ceiling Modification Plan B
This is similar to Plan A, except that new extra joists are fitted into part of the basement ceiling to support the added weight of the shielding (instead of using a beam and a screwjack column).
The new wooden joists are cut to length and notched at the ends, then installed between the existing joists.
After plywood panels are screwed securely to the joists, bricks or concrete blocks are then packed tightly into the spaces between the joists. The bricks or blocks, as well as the joists themselves, will reduce the amount of fallout radiation penetrating downward into the basement.
Approximately one-quarter of the total basement ceiling should be reinforced with extra joists and shielding material.
Important: This plan (like Plan A) should not be used if 12 inches or more of your basement wall is above ground level, unless you add the "optional walls" inside your basement that are shown in the Plan A sketch.
Permanent Concrete Block or Brick Shelter Plan C
This shelter will provide excellent protection, and can be constructed easily at a cost of $150 in most parts of the country.
Made of concrete blocks or bricks, the shelter should be located in the corner of your basement that is most below ground level. It can be built low, to serve as a "sitdown" shelter; or by making it higher you can have a shelter in which people can stand erect.
The shelter ceiling, however, should not be higher than the outside ground level of the basement corner where the shelter is located.
The higher your basement is above ground level, the thicker you should make the walls and roof of this shelter, since your regular basement walls will provide only limited shielding against outside radiation.
Natural ventilation is provided by the shelter entrance, and by the air vents shown in the shelter wall.
This shelter can be used as a storage room or for other useful purposes in non-emergency periods.
A PREPLANNED BASEMENT SHELTER. If your home has a basement but you do not wish to set up a permanent-type basement shelter, the next best thing would be to arrange to assemble a "preplanned" home shelter. This simply means gathering together, in advance, the shielding material you would need to make your basement (or one part of it) resistant to fallout radiation. This material could be stored in or around your home, ready for use whenever you decided to set up your basement shelter.
Here are two kinds of preplanned basement shelters. If you want to set up one of these, be sure to get the free plan for it first by writing to Civil Defense, Army Publications Center, 2800 Eastern Blvd. (Middle River), Baltimore, Md. 21220. Mention the full name of the plan you want.
Preplanned Snack Bar Shelter Plan D
This is a snack bar built of bricks or concrete blocks, set in mortar, in the "best" corner of your basement (the corner that is most below ground level). It can be converted quickly into a fallout shelter by lowering a strong, hinged "false ceiling" so that it rests on the snack bar.
When the false ceiling is lowered into place in a time of emergency, the hollow sections of it can be filled with bricks or concrete blocks. These can be stored conveniently nearby, or can be used as room dividers or recreation room furniture (see bench in sketch).
Preplanned Tilt-Up Storage Unit Plan E
A tilt-up storage unit in the best corner of your basement is another method of setting up a "preplanned" family fallout shelter.
The top of the storage unit should be hinged to the wall. In peacetime, the unit can be used as a bookcase, pantry, or storage facility.
In a time of emergency, the storage unit can be tilted so that the bottom of it rests on a wall of bricks or concrete blocks that you have stored nearby.
Other bricks or blocks should then be placed in the storage unit's compartments, to provide an overhead shield against fallout radiation.
The fallout protection offered by your home basement also can be increased by adding shielding material to the outside, exposed portion of your basement walls, and by covering your basement windows with shielding material.
You can cover the above-ground portion of the basement walls with earth, sand, bricks, concrete blocks, stones from your patio, or other material.
You also can use any of these substances to block basement windows and thus prevent outside fallout radiation from entering your basement in that manner.
A PERMANENT OUTSIDE SHELTER. If your home has no basement, or if you prefer to have a permanent-type home shelter in your yard, you can obtain instructions on how to construct several different kinds of outside fallout shelters by writing to the U.S. Office of Civil Defense, Department of Defense, Washington, D.C. 20310. There is no charge for these.
When To Leave Shelter
You should not come out of shelter until you are told by authorities that it is safe to do so. Special instruments are needed to detect fallout radiation and to measure its intensity. Unless you have these instruments, you will have to depend on your local government to tell you when to leave shelter.
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 quantities of gritty particles outside (on window ledges, sidewalks, cars, etc.) after an attack, you should assume that they are fallout particles, and therefore stay inside your shelter until you are told it is safe to come out.