All-America survival pack: What everyone needs
From Elaine Monaghan in Washington
February 12, 2003
LIKE a nightmare from the Cold War era, Americans are being urged to build an elaborate “disaster supply kit” to prepare for a biological, chemical or nuclear attack.
Assembling the kit would take visits to a doctor, a chemist’s, a do-it-yourself shop, a supermarket and a department store.
A room, preferably windowless, ideally in a basement, should be identified as a hideout for families, officials have suggested this week.
Smaller versions of the kits are to be kept in cars and at work, together with flat shoes if you are a woman who wears high heels.
Nine pages of step-by-step instructions are included in a Guide to Citizen Preparedness, which was published on government websites.
Three days after the US issued its most severe warning yet of an imminent terrorist attack, security authorities advised civilians to take extra-ordinary precautionary steps.
Recommendations that relate to the threat of biological or chemical strikes are already known to Americans.
The United States became painfully aware of the risks of such an attack because of mysterious anthrax letters posted after September 11, which killed five people and spread panic nationwide.
The official advice is to stock up on duct tape and heavy plastic sheeting cut to size to cover any vents or gaps in the hideout. A shorter version of the advice has even been published for children.
“You should have duct tape, plastic sheeting and scissors. Have an adult turn off air-conditioners, vents and fans,” it says. “Find an interior room, hopefully a room that does not have windows. Seal around doors and windows with duct tape and plastic sheeting. Take your battery-powered radio with you, so you know when it’s all clear.”
It gives children a definition of the poisonous vapours, aerosols, liquids or solids that could kill them. “They can be released by bombs, sprayed from the air or used as a liquid to create a hazard to people and the environment,” it says. “Some chemical weapons may have no smell or taste.”
Water tops the disaster kit list — a gallon (4.5 litres) a day per person for at least three days, which should be stored in clean containers at home, at work and in the car.
Tinned food supplies that require no cooking — preserved fruits, meats and vegetables, peanut butter and powdered baby milk — are to be set aside in a cool, dark place with a tin opener.
“You probably won’t have the opportunity to shop or search for the supplies you’ll need,” the advice says. “Your household will cope best by preparing for disaster before it strikes.”
A first-aid kit should consist of safety pins, cleansing agents, antibiotic cream, latex gloves petroleum jelly, 2in and 4in sterile gauze pads triangular bandages, 2in and 3in sterile roller bandages, cotton balls, scissors, tweezers, needle, moist towelettes, antiseptic, thermometer, tongue depressor blades, sunscreen and, finally, back-up supplies of any required prescription drugs.
Among the recommended items to be set aside are a whistle, fire extinguisher, compass, work gloves, paper, pens, pencils, needles and thread.
Also in the store should be an alarm clock, paper cups and plates, plastic cutlery, a knife, bleach, sugar, salt, pepper, aluminium foil and clingfilm; resealable plastic bags, cooking stove and fuel.
In the interests of hygiene, towels, soap, hand-cleaner, detergent, toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, deodorant, comb, brush, razor and shaving cream are recommended. Not to be forgotten are lip balm, insect repellent, contact lens solution and mirror.
Rubbish bags, toilet paper, a plastic bucket and shovel are suggested. Finally, extra sets of keys, bedding and clothing — to be removed and discarded if you are contaminated — are required.
A sealed, watertight box ought to include copies or originals of crucial documents including passports and birth certificates. And wills.
How they stayed alive in the 1950s
In the 1950s, Operation Alert sought to persuade Americans that diving under a park bench with a newspaper on your head would be ample protection in an all-out thermonuclear war launched by the Soviet Union (James Doran writes).
It was one of many futile orders issued by the US federal Government as the first wave of civil defence mania since the end of the Second World War swept the nation.
Ordinary Americans, gripped by the dual fears of political oppression and obliteration by new super-weapons, took their orders seriously.
The White House believed, as it does today, that the population had to be ready for an attack, even though it also knew that the only protection would be to hide away in an underground shelter, many miles from the blast centre of the bomb.
But that did not stop men and women all over the nation digging shallow A-bomb shelters, which had more in common with the old corrugated iron shelters common in Britain during the Second World War.
In the 1980s, as the final battles of the Cold War were played out, the little booklets with peculiar instructions about saving drinking water, tinned food and candles were issued once more. This time people were advised to duck under their desks.
timesonline.co.uk
This level of fear-mongering can only indicate one thing - an attack on Iraq is now a virtual certainty. |
