Domestic Civil Defence -
Sheltering and Contamination

Industrial Disasters, Terrorism and Warfare, are the three main events in which one has to consider taking some form of shelter from a hazard. A shelter against contaminating airborne chemicals or airborne diseases can be as simple as a well draughtproofed room, preferably with a filtered air supply. The radiation from a nuclear explosion or dispersed radioactive material (so-called 'dirty bomb') calls for sheltering in a room as far from the source of radiation as possible, surrounded by dense material such as brick, concrete or earth. The blast from an explosion, and the debris it throws outwards, call for structures giving protection against flying glass and building collapse. Each solution has its problems; this section aims to help provide protection whilst reducing the cost of commercial solutions.

The hazards themselves will need some explanation, not being commonly witnessed, other than in distant lands through the filter of television. Some disasters can be forecast - someone living next to a refinery or a chemical works will see the in-built risks - but the majority of industrial disasters occur through bad operating habits and insufficient management attention to safety.

War combines almost all of the threats that can be faced by any householder in a peacetime crisis with the additional hazard of death or injury from weapons and their effects. Skills learnt in dealing with lesser crises will assist in dealing with a war or a large-scale terrorist incident. A full-scale attack using nuclear, chemical or biological weapons - the fear from 1960 to 1990 - has receded, but cannot be ruled out. The risk is now of attempts by states or terrorist groups to cause explosions, contamination or epidemics, mainly against 'glamour targets' like large cities, airports, ports, industrial sites or military bases.

Given the nature of the threat, the following problems may occur, individually or in various groupings. :-

• Terrorist attacks on 'glamour' targets, to cause social unrest or fear.
• Sophisticated terrorist attacks intended to disrupt essential supplies of food, water or power, or disruption of transport, communications or commercial activity.
• Explosive damage to property, sometimes leading to uninhabitability or demolition.
• Fire damage to property, possibly with downwind contamination..
• Failure of one or more utility services for periods of days to weeks.
• Disruption of essential supplies of all kinds.
• Possible extensive contamination from the use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons, leading to temporary or long-term evacuation of damaged areas until decontamination is either carried out or occurs through natural weathering or the short-term 'decay' of any radioactive fallout.
• Possible economic disruption leading to social collapse - although this would be hard to achieve even in some major war.

Domestic Sheltering Arrangements :

Every home, however modest, offers some protection from the effects of weapons.

1. An undamaged house with all doors, windows, vents and chimneys sealed, offers almost complete protection from attack with non-persistent biological and chemical weapons.
   In general, shelters against biological and chemical contamination should be at or above ground level. During World War I the British Army released vast amounts of chlorine gas when the wind was from the west. The very dense and choking clouds of gas would sweep eastwards as far as 15 miles in German-held territory. Germans and local French and Belgian civilians would take refuge in the upper floors of buildings, as the gas-density at ground level or in cellars could overload the primitive gas-masks of the time.
2. A house with an inner room with windows blocked and doors reinforced against collapse offers protection against explosive heat-flash, shrapnel, flying debris and some direct blast effects.
3. If the inner shelter room is equipped with a 'core' shelter surrounded by boxes of heavy materials, it will offer up to 10 times the protection of the unmodified house against the effects of nuclear radiation from atomic weapons fallout. Whilst some radiation may reach those in shelter, it would be so reduced that a lethal or injuring whole-body dose would not be reached.
4. A cellar or basement reinforced against collapse offers good protection against most weapons except chemical weapons, which (being heavier than air) may enter through unsealed or unfiltered openings.
5. Buildings fitted with forced filtered air supplies, allowing a slightly higher internal pressure (positive pressure) than the outside air, offer excellent protection against chemical or biological weapons effects.
6. Purpose-built air-raid shelters, constructed to avoid blast damage by being underground, with protected positive-pressure air suppliers, offer good but expensive all-round protection.

Most householders, like the writer, have to be satisfied with improvising levels 1 through 3 protection, possibly to 5 if DIY skills and air-pumps are available.

Improvised Equipment and Emergency Information :-

[Weapons Effects] [Shelter Room] [Fallout Shelter] [Trench Shelters]
[Fire Plan] [Rest Centres] [First Aid]