tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}img"/>

Approximately one-quarter of the total basement ceiling should be reinforced with extra joists and shielding material.

Important: This plan (like Plan A) should not be used if 12 inches or more of your basement wall is above ground level, unless you add the "optional walls" inside your basement that are shown in the Plan A sketch.

Permanent Concrete Block or Brick Shelter Plan C

This shelter will provide excellent protection, and can be constructed easily at a cost of $150 in most parts of the country.

Made of concrete blocks or bricks, the shelter should be located in the corner of your basement that is most below ground level. It can be built low, to serve as a "sitdown" shelter; or by making it higher you can have a shelter in which people can stand erect.

The shelter ceiling, however, should not be higher than the outside ground level of the basement corner where the shelter is located.

The higher your basement is above ground level, the thicker you should make the walls and roof of this shelter, since your regular basement walls will provide only limited shielding against outside radiation.

Natural ventilation is provided by the shelter entrance, and by the air vents shown in the shelter wall.

This shelter can be used as a storage room or for other useful purposes in non-emergency periods.

A PREPLANNED BASEMENT SHELTER. If your home has a basement but you do not wish to set up a permanent-type basement shelter, the next best thing would be to arrange to assemble a "preplanned" home shelter. This simply means gathering together, in advance, the shielding material you would need to make your basement (or one part of it) resistant to fallout radiation. This material could be stored in or around your home, ready for use whenever you decided to set up your basement shelter.

Here are two kinds of preplanned basement shelters. If you want to set up one of these, be sure to get the free plan for it first by writing to Civil Defense, Army Publications Center, 2800 Eastern Blvd. (Middle River), Baltimore, Md. 21220. Mention the full name of the plan you want.

Preplanned Snack Bar Shelter Plan D

This is a snack bar built of bricks or concrete blocks, set in mortar, in the "best" corner of your basement (the corner that is most below ground level). It can be converted quickly into a fallout shelter by lowering a strong, hinged "false ceiling" so that it rests on the snack bar.

When the false ceiling is lowered into place in a time of emergency, the hollow sections of it can be filled with bricks or concrete blocks. These can be stored conveniently nearby, or can be used as room dividers or recreation room furniture (see bench in sketch).

Preplanned Tilt-Up Storage Unit Plan E

A tilt-up storage unit in the best corner of your basement is another method of setting up a "preplanned" family fallout shelter.

The top of the storage unit should be hinged to the wall. In peacetime, the unit can be used as a bookcase, pantry, or storage facility.

In a time of emergency, the storage unit can be tilted so that the bottom of it rests on a wall of bricks or concrete blocks that you have stored nearby.

Other bricks or blocks should then be placed in the storage unit's compartments, to provide an overhead shield against fallout radiation.

The fallout protection offered by your home basement also can be increased by adding shielding material to the outside, exposed portion of your basement walls, and by covering your basement windows with shielding material.

You can cover the above-ground portion of the basement walls with earth, sand, bricks, concrete blocks, stones from your patio, or other material.

You also can use any of these substances to block basement windows and thus prevent outside fallout radiation from entering your basement in that manner.

• A PERMANENT OUTSIDE SHELTER. If your home has no basement, or if you prefer to have a permanent-type home shelter in your yard, you can obtain instructions on how to construct several different kinds of outside fallout shelters by writing to the U.S. Office of Civil Defense, Department of Defense, Washington, D.C. 20310. There is no charge for these.

When To Leave Shelter

You should not come out of shelter until you are told by authorities that it is safe to do so. Special instruments are needed to detect fallout radiation and to measure its intensity. Unless you have these instruments, you will have to depend on your local government to tell you when to leave shelter.

This information probably would be given on the radio, which is one reason why you should keep on hand a battery-powered radio that works in your shelter area.

If you came out of shelter too soon, while the fallout particles outside were still highly radioactive, you might receive enough radiation to make you sick or even kill you.

Remember that fallout particles can be seen, but the rays they give off cannot be seen. If you see unusual quantities of gritty particles outside (on window ledges, sidewalks, cars, etc.) after an attack, you should assume that they are fallout particles, and therefore stay inside your shelter until you are told it is safe to come out.