Saturday, March 17, 2012

How To Bug In: FEMA Instructional Video

You may remember the advice by FEMA, during the 2001 anthrax scare, to stock up on duct tape and plastic sheeting. Jokes notwithstanding, FEMA did actually produce public service videos to instruct citizens in the use of those and other survival items in the event of a biological or chemical emergency, whether accidental or as a result of enemy action. This is one such video which FEMA distributed in 2002 to residents of Oak Ridge, Tennessee; home of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and historical home of the Manhattan Project. It specifically addresses a scenario involving a chemical accident, but the information could also be useful in the case of a biological event such as disease outbreak or, especially, biological attack.

3 comments:

irishdutchuncle said...

This is the scenerio that brought me over to the "dark side" of preparedness. The "official" preparedness sources couldn't offer anything better than this...

your "safe room" quickly becomes a biohazard containment for the corpses of yourself, and your loved-ones. (without a reliable fresh air supply)

Tracy said...

It really depends on the scenario. I don't know about you, but I had NBC training in the military, and the main thing I took away from it is that when there is a chemical cloud wafting your way, it probably won't last long. The goal is to insulate yourself from it as much as possible for the minutes or hours it takes for the prevailing winds to carry it away. As the video points out, it is better to create a safe room at home than to be caught in a traffic jam in your car when it passes through.

irishdutchuncle said...

I stayed out of the service, for the good of the country.

I agree it's better to be sheltered in place at home, for just about any scenerio. NBC warfare is my main survivalism nightmare. (besides not having enough food) I haven't done the calculations on how much breathable air/how many hours for a safe room, but I know I'd want "more".