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.
Furniture Feet Protectors
The best place to improvise a shelter would be the basement or storm cellar, if your home has one.
SHIELDING MATERIAL NEEDED
To improvise a shelter you would need shielding materials such as those mentioned concrete blocks, bricks, sand, etc. Other things could also be used as shielding material, or to support shielding 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 BASEMENT SHELTER
Here are two ways of improvising fallout protection in the basement of a home:
Set up a large, sturdy table or workbench in the corner of your basement that is most below ground level.
On the table, pile as much shielding material as it will hold without collapsing. Around the table, place as much shielding material as possible.
When family members are "inside the shelter"-that is, under the table-block the opening with other shielding material.
If you don't have a large table or workbench available-or if more shelter space is needed-place furniture or large appliances in the corner of the basement 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 shielding material as they will support. Stack other shielding material around the "walls" of your shelter.
When all persons are inside the shelter space, block the opening with shielding material.
USING A STORM CELLAR FOR FALLOUT PROTECTION
A below-ground storm cellar can be used as an improvised fallout shelter, but additional shielding 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 shielding material for overhead shielding from fallout. More posts or braces may be needed to support
the extra weight.
After the roof has been shielded, 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 shielding 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 shielding 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 SPACE UNDER YOUR HOUSE
Some homes without basements have "crawl space" between the first floor and the ground underneath the house. If you have this space 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 space 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-space 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 shielding 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 shielding material forms the "walls" of your shelter area. On the floor above, place other shielding 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.
IMPROVISING AN OUTSIDE SHELTER
If your home has no basement, no storm cellar and no protected crawl space, here are two ways of improvising fallout protection in your yard:
Dig an L-shaped trench, about 4 feet deep and 3 feet wide. One side of the L, which will be the shelter area, should be long enough to accommodate all family members. The other side of the L can be shorter, since its purpose is to serve as an entrance-way and to reduce the amount of radiation getting into the shelter area.
Cover the entire trench with lumber (or with house doors that have been taken off their hinges), except for about 2 feet on the short side of the L, to provide access and ventilation.
On top of the lumber or doors, pile earth 1 to 2 feet high, or cover them with other shielding material.
If necessary, support or "shore up" the walls of the trench, as well as the lumber or doors, so they will not collapse.
Dig a shallow ditch, 6 inches deep and 6 inches wide, parallel to and 4 feet from the outside wall of your house.
Remove the heaviest doors from the house. Place the bottoms of the doors in the ditch (so they won't slip), and lean the doors against the wall of the house.
On the doors, pile 12 to 18 inches of earth or sand. Stack or pile other shielding material at the sides of the doors, and also on the other side of the house wall (to protect you against radiation coming from that direction).
If possible, make the shelter area deeper by digging out more earth inside it. Also dig some other shallow ditches, to allow rain water to drain away.
AN IMPROVISED SHELTER ON THE GROUND FLOOR
If your home has no basement or storm cellar (and no crawl space that is surrounded by foundation walls up to the first floor), you can get some limited fallout protection by improvising a fallout shelter on the first or ground floor of your house. However, this type of shelter probably would not give you nearly as much protection as the other types of improvised shelters described in this chapter.
Use an inner hall, inner room or large clothes closet on the ground floor, away from outside walls and windows.
With doors, furniture and appliances, plus stacks of other shielding material, you can create an enclosure large enough to live in for a short time. If possible, use boxes filled with sand or earth as shielding material, and fill drawers and trunks with sand or earth.
If there is not room for the shielding material in the limited space of a closet or small room, you can place the material on the other sides of the walls, or on the floor overhead.
BOATS AS IMPROVISED SHELTERS
If no better fallout protection is available, a boat with an enclosed cabin could be used. However, in addition to emergency supplies such as food, drinking water and a battery-powered radio, you should have aboard the items you would need (a broom, bucket, or pump-and-hose) to sweep off or flush off any fallout particles that might collect on the boat. The boat should be anchored or cruised slowly at least 200 feet offshore, where the water is at least 5 feet deep. This distance from shore would protect you from radioactive fallout particles that had fallen on the nearby land. A 5-foot depth would absorb the radiation from particles falling into the water and settling on the bottom.
If particles drift down on the boat, stay inside the cabin most of the time. Go outside now and then, and sweep or flush off any particles that have collected on the boat.
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