Disaster Survival

Biological + Chemical

After the anthrax scare in 2001, Americans rushed out and bought plastic sheeting and duct tape to safeguard themselves at home. Since then we've realized that that technological hurdles to a wide-scale biological attack are higher than originally feared. But that doesn't mean some people still shouldn't be prepared. If you live in New York City or Washington, DC, near the Sears Tower or another high-profile terrorist target, or within about 10 miles of a toxic chemical facility that could be subject to sabotage or an industrial accident, you should think about what you would do to protect your family.

Grading Your Neighborhood

Many people may not even know whether they live near a toxic chemical facility. (It's not like these places do a lot of advertising.) Scorecard , one of the country's leading environmental watchdog groups, runs a great site for concerned homeowners. Just type in your town in the "facility reports" box and you'll get not only the location, but also the entire environmental record, of every such facility in your area.

Know Which Way the Wind Is Blowing

Ideally, you always want to get out of the way of a chemical or biological agent. But whether you have time to flee or which direction you should head is largely a function of the speed and direction of the wind. A few things to remember when plotting your evasion maneuvers:
  • Listen closely to the what the authorities recommending for you're your particular neighborhood.
  • Try to triangulate distance of current location of the spill and the speed and direction of the spill. If the spill is 15 miles away and the wind is blowing at five miles an hour, you've got 45 minutes to scram.
  • When fleeing a spill, always head perpendicular to the direction its moving, and then try to loop back behind it.
  • If by your calculations you don't think you have enough to safely get out of the way, that's when you want to think about sheltering in place with the following advice from FEMA.

How to Build a Containment Shelter

Special equipment you'll need (make sure to store in a closet either in or near the room you'll be using for your shelter): roll of clear heavy plastic sheeting; giant roll of standard duct tape; scissors.

Specs: When deciding which room in your house to use, FEMA recommends you pick one big enough for at least 10 square feet of floor space per person, which will provide sufficient air for up to five hours.

Instructions: Turn off the heating or air conditioning in your house, and close all the windows and fireplace flue. Then cut the sheeting to generously cover every window and air duct in your containment room and thoroughly seal up with duct tape. Finally, grab a watch and transistor radio (to keep track of the time and location of the spill), and close and seal up the door.

IMPORTANT WARNING: Do NOT under any circumstances stay in your containment shelter for more than five hours. Even if you're not sure the danger is completely passed, at that point you'll likely have a better chance surviving outside than in the diminishing oxygen of your containment shelter.

Chemical Emergency content.