page 23)

× Public shelters are marked like this.

× Good shelters can be prepared in homes with basements.

× IF NO SHELTER IS AVAILABLE, IMPROVISE PROTECTION (See Chapter 5, page 33)

Remember:

× A basement corner below ground level, or a storm cellar, is

the best place to improvise fallout protection.

× For the best possible protection, use heavy and dense materials

for shielding.

× PREPARE EMERGENCY SUPPLIES (See Chapter 6, page 39)

Especially important are:

× Water and other liquids.

× Food requiring no cooking.

× Special medicines.

× CONSERVE EMERGENCY SUPPLIES; MAINTAIN SANITATION (See Chapter 7, page 45)

× REDUCE FIRE HAZARDS (See Chapter 8, page 51)

× KNOW THE BASICS OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE (See Chapter 9, page 55)

If no doctor is available, especially important are actions to:

× Restore breathing.

× Stop serious bleeding.

× Treat for shock.

× Treat broken bones and burns.

× FOLLOW OFFICIAL INSTRUCTIONS

Chapter 2

UNDERSTAND THE HAZARDS OF NUCLEAR ATTACK

SUMMARY

1. The main hazards of a nuclear attack are blast, heat, fire, and fallout radiation.

2. You may be able to protect yourself against blast and heat by getting inside a shelter or taking cover, before the nuclear explosions occur. You may be able to avoid fire injuries by putting out small fires or escaping from large fires that might occur in your area.

3. You can protect yourself against fallout radiation by getting inside a fallout shelter--if possible, before fallout particles begin drifting down--and by staying there until you are told to come out by authorities who have the equipment to measure radiation levels.

4. After a nuclear attack, food and water would be available to most people, and it would be usable. If any fallout particles have collected, they could be removed before the food is eaten or the water is drunk. People suffering from extreme hunger or thirst should not be denied food or water, even if the available supplies are not known to be free of fallout particles or other radioactive substances.

5. Infants and small children should be fed canned or powdered milk (if available) for awhile after the attack, unless the regular milk supply is uncontaminated. They should not be given water that may contain radioactive substances, if other water known to be pure is available.

6. A person cannot "catch" radiation sickness from another person.

UNDERSTAND THE HAZARDS OF NUCLEAR ATTACK

When a nuclear bomb or missile explodes, the main effects produced are intense light (flash), heat, blast, and radiation. How strong these effects are depends on the size and type of the weapon; how far away the explosion is; the weather conditions (sunny or rainy, windy or still); the terrain (whether the ground is flat or hilly); and the height of the explosion (high in the air, or near the ground).

All nuclear explosions cause light, heat and blast, which occur immediately. In addition, explosions that are on or close to the ground would create large quantities of dangerous radioactive fallout particles, most of which would fall to earth during the first 24 hours. Explosions high in the air would create smaller radioactive particles, which would not have any real effect on humans until many months or years later, if at all.^[2]

What Would Happen in an Enemy Attack

If the U.S. should be attacked, the people who happened to be close to a nuclear, explosion--in the area of heavy destruction--probably would be killed or seriously injured by the blast, or by the heat of the nuclear fireball.

People a few miles away--in the "fringe area" of the explosion--would be endangered by the blast and heat, and by fires that the explosion might start. However, it is likely that most of the people in the fringe area would survive these hazards.

People who were outside the fringe area would not be affected by the blast, heat or fire. Department of Defense studies show that in any nuclear attack an enemy might launch against us, tens of millions of Americans would be outside the fringe areas. To them--and to people in the fringe areas who survived the blast, heat and fire--radioactive fallout would be the main danger. Protective measures against this danger can be taken.

What Is Fallout?

When a nuclear weapon explodes near the ground, great quantities of pulverized earth and other debris are sucked up into the nuclear cloud. There the radioactive gases produced by the explosion condense on and into this debris, producing radioactive fallout particles. Within a short time, these particles fall back to earth--the larger ones first, the smaller ones later. On the way down, and after they reach the