In Time of Emergency by United States. Office of Civil Defense (book recommendations based on other books .TXT) 📖

items could be brought into the home shelter if space permits. These might include books and magazines, writing materials, a clock and calendar, playing cards and hobby materials, a sewing kit, and toiletries such as toothbrushes, cosmetics, and shaving supplies.

Chapter 7 WATER, FOOD, AND SANITATION IN A SHELTER SUMMARY

Before an emergency

1. Read this chapter fully, and learn how you would have to manage your water, food and sanitation problems if you had to spend a week or two in a fallout shelter, especially a home shelter.

During an emergency

1. If you are in a public fallout shelter, do exactly what the shelter manager tells you to do. He will take care of you to the best of his ability.

2. If you are in a home shelter, follow the advice given in this chapter concerning water, food and sanitation. Take care of your water and food supplies, keep them clean, and make them last for the period you may have to stay in shelter. If necessary, set up an emergency toilet, keep it clean, and make sure it is used properly.

WATER, FOOD, AND SANITATION IN A SHELTER

At all times and under all conditions, human beings must have sufficient water, adequate food and proper sanitation in order to stay alive and healthy. When people are living in a fallout shelter--even for a week or two--water and food may be scarce, and it may be difficult to maintain normal sanitary conditions. Water and food supplies may have to be "managed"--that is, taken care of, kept clean, and rationed to each person in the shelter. Sanitation also may have to be managed and controlled, perhaps by setting up emergency toilets and rules to insure that they are used properly.

If you go to a public fallout shelter in a time of attack, you probably would not need to know a great deal about managing water, food, and sanitation. A shelter manager and his assistants would handle these problems with the cooperation of all in the shelter. He would make the best use of whatever water and food supplies were available, provide emergency toilets if necessary, set up rules for living in the shelter, arrange for the shelter occupants to carry on various activities necessary for health and well-being, and decide when it was safe for the group to leave shelter and for how long at a time.

In a home fallout shelter, however, you and your family would be largely on your own. You would have to take care of yourselves, solve your own problems, make your own living arrangements, subsist on the supplies you had previously stocked, and find out for yourself (probably by listening to the radio) when it was safe to leave shelter. In this situation, one of your most important tasks would be to manage your water and food supplies, and maintain sanitation. The following guidance is intended to help you do this.

Care and Use of Water Supplies

The average person in a shelter would need at least 1 quart of water or other liquids per day to drink, but more would be useful (to allow some for washing, etc.). Therefore a rationing plan might be required in your home shelter, so as to make your available liquids last for 14 days. (Many communities may continue to have potable water available, and families could relax their rationing plans.)

Illustration:

In addition to water stored in containers, there is usually other water available in most homes that is drinkable, such as:

--Water and other liquids normally found in the kitchen, including ice cubes, milk, soft drinks, and fruit and vegetable juices.

Illustration:

--Water (20 to 60 gallons) in the hot water tank.

--Water in the flush tanks (not the bowls) of home toilets.

Illustration:

--Water in the pipes of your home plumbing system. In a time of nuclear attack, local authorities may instruct householders to turn off the main water valves in their homes to avoid having water drain away in case of a break and loss of pressure in the water mains. With the main valve in your house closed, all the pipes in the house would still be full of water. To use this water, turn on the faucet that is located at the highest point in your house, to let air into the system; and then draw water, as needed, from the faucet that is located at the lowest point in your house.

In a home shelter, occupants should drink first the water they know is uncontaminated, such as that mentioned above. Of course, if local authorities tell you the regular water is drinkable, it should be used.

If necessary, "suspicious" water--such as cloudy water from regular faucets or perhaps some muddy water from a nearby stream or pond--can be used after it has been purified. This is how to purify it:

Illustration:

1. Strain the water through a paper towel or several thicknesses of clean cloth, to remove dirt and fallout particles, if any. Or else let the water "settle" in a container for 24 hours, by which time any solid particles would have sunk to the bottom. A handful of clay soil in each gallon of water would help this settling process.

2. After the solid particles have been removed, boil the water if possible for 3 to 5 minutes, or add a water-purifying agent to it. This could be either: (a) water-purifying tablets, available at drug stores, or (b) two percent tincture of iodine, or (c) liquid chlorine household bleach, provided the label says that it contains hypochlorite as its only active ingredient. For each gallon of water, use 4 water-purifying tablets, or 12 drops of tincture of iodine, or 8 drops of liquid chlorine bleach. If the water is cloudy, these amounts should be doubled.

There would not be much danger of drinking radioactive particles in water, as they would sink quickly to the bottom of the container or stream. Very few would dissolve in the water. Although open reservoirs might contain some radioactive iodine in the first few days after an attack, this danger is considered minor except to very young children.

Care and Use of Food Supplies

Food also should be rationed carefully in a home shelter, to make it last for at least a 2-week period of shelter occupancy. Usually, half the normal intake would be adequate, except for growing children or pregnant women.

Illustration:

In a shelter, it is especially important to be sanitary in the storing, handling and eating of food, so as to avoid digestive upsets or other more serious illness, and to avoid attracting vermin. Be sure to:

--Keep all food in covered containers.

--Keep cooking and eating utensils clean.

--Keep all garbage in a closed container, or dispose of it outside the home when it is safe to go outside. If possible, bury it. Avoid letting garbage or trash accumulate inside the shelter, both for fire and sanitation reasons.

Emergency Toilet Facilities

Illustration:

In many home shelters, people would have to use emergency toilets until it was safe to leave shelter for brief periods of time.

An emergency toilet, consisting of a watertight container with a snug-fitting cover, would be necessary. It could be a garbage container, or a pail or bucket. If the container is small, a larger container, also with a cover, should be available to empty the contents into for later disposal. If possible, both containers should be lined with plastic bags.

Illustration:

This emergency toilet could be fitted with some kind of seat, especially for children or elderly persons. Or it may be possible to remove the seat from a wooden chair, cut a hole in it, and place the container underneath. For privacy, the toilet could be screened from view.

Every time someone uses the toilet, he should pour or sprinkle into it a small amount of regular household disinfectant, such as creosol or chlorine bleach, to keep down odors and germs. After each use, the lid should be put back on.

When the toilet container needs to be emptied, and outside radiation levels permit, the contents should be buried outside in a hole 1 or 2 feet deep. This would prevent the spread of disease by rats and insects.

If the regular toilets inside the home--or the sewer lines--are not usable for any reason, an outside toilet should be built when it is safe to do so.

If anyone has been outside and fallout particles have collected on his shoes or clothing, they should be brushed off before he enters the shelter area again.

Illustration:

Chapter 8 FIRE HAZARDS SUMMARY

Before an emergency

1. Follow the normal fire prevention rules given in this chapter.

2. Keep on hand at home the basic fire fighting tools mentioned in this chapter.

During an emergency

1. Close doors, windows, venetian blinds, shades, and drapes in your house.

2. Unless otherwise advised, fill buckets and other containers with water, for emergency fire fighting as well as other purposes.

3. If a fire should occur, fight it promptly, following the recommended procedures.

FIRE HAZARDS

Fire, always a danger, could be even more of a disaster during a nuclear attack emergency when the fire department might not be available to help you. Also, the risk of fire would be greater at that time.

Illustration:

Normal fire-prevention rules are of special importance in an emergency. They include familiar commonsense precautions such as not allowing trash to accumulate, especially near heat sources; exercising extreme caution in the use of flammable fluids such as gasoline, naphtha, etc.; storage of such fluids outdoors when possible; care in the use of electricity; repairing of faulty wiring and avoiding overloaded circuits; and repair of faulty heating systems.

These special fire precautions should be taken in a time of nuclear emergency, especially if you plan to use a home shelter:

Illustration:

(1) Keep some of the intense heat rays from nuclear explosions from entering your house by closing your doors, windows, venetian blinds, window shades and drapes. If the climate will not permit this for an extended period of time, close as many as possible, then close the rest when the Attack Warning Signal is given.

Illustration:

(2) Unless local authorities advise otherwise, fill buckets, bathtubs and other containers with water, for use in emergency fire fighting.

If a fire does occur, your home might be saved if you know how to fight fires, and have on hand some basic firefighting tools. These should include a garden hose, a ladder, buckets filled with sand, containers filled with water, and a fire extinguisher. Keep in mind that vaporizing-liquid types of fire extinguishers can produce dangerous fumes when used in small enclosed spaces.

Remember the 3 basic ways to put out a fire:

• Take away its fuel.

• Take away its air (smother it).

• Cool it with water or fire-extinguisher chemicals.

Illustration:

Ordinary fires should be fought by:

--Getting the burning material out of the house (carry it out, or throw it out of a door or window if you can); or

--Putting out the fire with water, sand, earth or fire-extinguisher chemicals; or

--Smothering the fire with a rug or blanket, preferably wet.

Special types of fires require special methods:

--If it is an electrical fire, be sure to shut off the electricity first. Then put out the flames with water or anything else available. If you can't shut off the electricity, don't use water on an electrical fire.

--If it is an oil or grease fire, shut off the supply of whatever is burning. Then smother the flames with sand, earth, rugs, or other heavy materials. Don't use water.

--If it is a gas fire, shut off the gas supply. Then use water, sand, or earth to put out whatever is burning.