Nuclear War Survival Skills
“Proper Shelter Preparations”
Evacuation Checklist
Survival Information
Tools
Shelter-Building Materials
Water
Peacetime Valuables
Light
Clothing
Sleeping Gear
Food
Sanitation Items
Medical Items
Miscellaneous
Shelter, the Greatest Need
Adequate Shelter
Shelter Against Radiation,
Flash Blindness,
Fire,
And Skin Burns
Ventilation and Cooling of Shelters
Supply enough air to carry away all the shelter occupants’ body heat
Move the air gently, so as not to raise its temperature
Distribute the air quite evenly throughout the shelter
Provide occupants with adequate drinking water and salt
Wear as few clothes as practical
Keep pumping about 40 cfm of air per person through the shelter both day and night during hot weather
Protection Against Fires and Carbon Monoxide
Dr. A. Broido, a leading experimenter with fires and their associated dangers, reached this conclusion: “If I were building a fallout shelter I would spend a few extra dollars to build it in my backyard rather than in my basement, locating the intake vent as far as possible from any combustible material. In such a shelter I would expect to survive anything except the close-in blast effects.”
Water
4 quarts of water per day per person and 1 tablespoon (10 grams) of salt
Polyethylene trash bags make practical expedient water containers
Siphoning is the best way to extract the water from the bags
Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) is used to disinfect drinking water (1 tspn/10gal.)
Shelter Sanitation and Preventive Medicine
Metal and strong plastic containers with tight lids protect food best
All cooked food be eaten promptly
Insect repellents on the skin and clothing are generally helpful
Wash off sweat and dead skin
Wash or disinfect clothing as often as practical
Avoid infection from toilet seats by disinfecting with a strong chlorine solution and then rinsing
Wear shoes or sandals when walking about
Adequate ventilation would help in disease prevention
DISPOSAL OF HUMAN WASTES
Use a 5-gallon paint can, a bucket, or a large waterproof wastebasket to collect both urine and excrement
If only one container is available and is almost filled, periodically dump the wastes outside unless fallout is still being deposited
People who plan to stay in a shelter should dig a waste-disposal pit if they do not have sufficient waste containers for weeks of shelter occupancy
Use a hose-vented, 5-gallon can or bucket lined with a heavy plastic bag: cover tightly with plastic when not in use
DISPOSAL OF DEAD BODIES
One solution is to put the corpse outside as soon as the odor is evident
Place it in a bag made of large plastic trash bags taped together and perforated with a few pinholes
Surviving Without Doctors
Information about first aid and hygienic precautions can be obtained from widely available Red Cross and civil defense booklets and courses
This knowledge, with a stock of basic first aid supplies, would reduce suffering and prevent many dangerous illnesses
Adequate shelter and essential life-support items are the best means of saving lives in a nuclear war
Potassium Iodide
An extremely small and inexpensive daily dose of the preferred non-radioactive potassium salt, potassium iodide (KI), if taken 1/2 hour to 1 day before exposure to radioactive iodine, will reduce later absorption of radioactive iodine by the thyroid to only about 1% of what the absorption would be without this preventive measure
Potassium iodide, when obtained in the crystalline reagent form and used as recommended is safe, inexpensive, and easy to administer
Prudent individuals should obtain and keep ready for use an adequate supply of potassium iodide well in advance of a crisis
Expedient Shelter Furnishings
More people can occupy a properly furnished shelter for weeks
Cleanliness, health, and morale are better if well designed furnishings are used
Persons occupying a shelter made relatively comfortable by its furnishings are more likely to stay in the shelter long enough to avoid dangerous exposure to fallout radiation
Improvised Clothing and Protective Items
Trap “dead” air
Use windbreaker materials
Prevent excessive heat losses by conduction
Insulate the whole body with newspapers or paper bags
Any clothing that keeps fallout off the skin helps greatly
Fallout Masks greatly reduce the risk of radiation particles entering your body
Permanent Family Fallout Shelters for Dual Use
Having a permanent, ready-to-use, well supplied fallout shelter would greatly improve millions of American families’ chances of surviving a nuclear attack
The illustrated shelter room has 106 square feet of floor space – room enough for 5 adults and the survival essentials they will need for long occupancy
12-inch-thick concrete wall between the landing at the foot of the stairs and the end of the shelter room
Most of the radiation will not strike shelter occupants if they place containers filled with water and other shielding material against the door
Below-ground shelter of the type specified in official Federal Emergency Management Agency pamphlets costs about $100 per square foot of floor space
If needed, a grid of 1/2-inch rebars, spaced at 12 inches, usually is adequate when constructing in clay
Big savings in shelter construction costs are made by using salvaged and/or used materials
Wet Shelter Prevention
Shelter walls sometimes crack due to settling and earth movements
Put a layer of gravel or crushed rock in the bottom of the excavation, and install perforated drainage pipes if gravity drainage is practical
Cover the gravel or crushed rock in the floor area with a plastic vapor barrier before pouring a concrete floor
Coat the outer surfaces of roof and walls with bituminous waterproofing or other coating that has proved to be most effective in your locality
Backfill with gravel or crushed rock against the walls, to keep the soil from possibly becoming saturated
A Good Permanent Shelter Has Two Ventilation Systems
The primary ventilation system of a small permanent shelter should utilize a manually operated centrifugal blower
The multi-week and/or emergency ventilation system of a permanent shelter that has an emergency exit should depend on a homemade KAP
Do not use air intake hoods on a permanent shelter’s pipes, because hoods are not as effective as goosenecks in preventing fallout particles from entering ventilation pipes
Never install any screen inside a gooseneck or air intake hood, because spider webs and the debris that sticks to webs will greatly reduce airflow
ADEQUATE STORAGE SPACE FOR ESSENTIALS
About 20 square feet of shelter floor area per family member is needed for:
Shelter furnishings and to store adequate water for a month,
A year’s supply of compact dry foods, cooking and sanitary equipment, blankets, tools, and other post-attack essentials
To store the most supplies in a shelter, you should install shelves after you know the heights of the items to be stored
Instructions for an Expedient Fallout Shelter
The most difficult to build expedient shelter should take no longer than two days to construct
Read all the instructions and study the drawings before beginning work
Sharpen all tools, including picks and shovels
Wear gloves from the start
Whenever Practical Select a Building Site That:
Will not be flooded if heavy rains occur
Is in the open and at least 50 ft away from a building or woods that might be set afire by the thermal pulse from an explosion tens of miles away
Has earth that is firm and stable
Has a sufficient depth of earth above rock or the water table
Expedient Instructions Cont.
Before staking out the shelter, clear the ground of brush, weeds and tall grass over an area extending about 10 ft beyond the planned edges of the excavation
Stake out the complete shelter, and then dig by removing layers of earth
Pile all earth about 8 ft away from the trench
Never risk a cave-in by digging into lower parts of an earth wall
Make sandbags out of the excavated dirt with pillowcases
Cut and Haul Poles and Logs More Easily By Doing the Following:
Take time to sharpen your tools before starting to work no matter how rushed you feel
When sawing green trees that have gummy resin or sap, oil your saw with kerosene or diesel fuel
After a tree has been felled, trim off all limbs and knots so that the pole or log is smooth and will require no additional smoothing
It usually is best first to cut the poles exactly two or three times the final length of the poles to be used in the shelter
Drag the logs rather than trying to carry them on your shoulders
Expedient Instructions Cont.
Make a reliable canopy over the shelter entry
Take to your shelter enough window screen or mosquito netting to cover its openings
Work to complete (1) an expedient ventilating- cooling pump (a KAP) and (2) the storage of at least 15 gallons of water per person
An Example of an Expedient Shelter
The room of this 6-person shelter was 3-1/2 feet wide, 4-1/2 feet high, and 16-1/2 feet long. A small stand- up hole was dug at one end, so each tall occupant could stand up and stretch several times a day
Door-Covered Trench Shelter
Protection Factor – 250
The shelter illustrated is roofed with 3 doors and is the minimum length for 3 persons
Making and Using Homemade Shelter-Ventilating Pump
In warm weather, large volumes of outside air MUST be pumped through most fallout or blast shelters if they are crowded and occupied for a day or more
The KAP (Kearny Air Pump) is a practical, do- it-yourself device for pumping adequate volumes of cooling air through shelters with minimum work
The Pump Frame and Its Fixed Support
Boards for the frame
(1st) 22 ft of 1 X 2-in. boards
(2nd) Boards of the same length that have approximately the same dimensions as 1 X 2- in. and 1 X 1-in. lumber
(3rd) Straight sticks or metal strips that can be cut and fitted to make a flat-faced KAP frame
Hinges
(1st) Door or cabinet butt-hinges
(2nd) metal strap-hinges
(3rd) improvised hinges made of leather
A board for the fixed horizontal support
(1st) A 1 X 4-in. board that is at least 1 ft longer than the width of the opening in which you plan to swing your pump
(2nd) A wider board
Small nails (at least 24)
(1st) No. 6 box nails, about 1/2 in. longer than the thickness of the two boards, so their pointed ends can be bent over and clinched)
(2nd) other small nails
The Flaps
Plastic film or other very light, flexible material — 12 square feet in pieces that can be cut into 9 rectangular strips, each 30 X 5-1/2 in.
(1st) polyethylene film 3 or 4 mils thick (3 or 4 one-thousandths of an inch)
(2nd) 2-mil polyethylene from large trash bags
(3rd) tough paper
Pressure-sensitive waterproof tape, enough to make 30 ft of tape 3/4 in. to 1 in. wide, for securing the hem-tunnels of the flaps
(1st) cloth duct tape (silver tape)
(2nd) glass tape
(3rd) scotch tape
(4th) freezer or masking tape, or sew the hem tunnels
The Flap Pivot-Wires
(1st) 30 ft of smooth wire at least as heavy and springy as coat hanger wire, that can be made into very straight pieces each 29 in. long (nine all-wire coat hangers will supply enough)
(2nd) 35 ft of somewhat thinner wire, including light, flexible insulated wire
(3rd) 35 ft of smooth string, preferably nylon string about the diameter of coat hanger wire.
The Pull Cord
(1st) At least 10 ft of cord
(2nd) strong string
(3rd) flexible, light wire
The Flap-Stops
(1st) 150 ft of light string
(2nd) 150 ft of light, smooth wire
(3rd) 150 ft of very strong thread
(4th) 600 ft of ordinary thread, to provide 4 threads for each stop-flap.
(1st) 90 tacks (not thumbtacks)
(2nd) 90 small nails. (Tacks or nails are desirable but not essential, since the flap-stops can be tied to the frame.)
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Blackout USA (EMP survival and preparedness)
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Liberty Generator (Build and make your own energy source)
Backyard Liberty (Easy and cheap DIY Aquaponic system to grow your organic and living food bank)
Bullet Proof Home (A Prepper’s Guide in Safeguarding a Home )
Family Self Defense (Best Self Defense Strategies For You And Your Family)
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