In Time of Emergency | Page 4

not getting fallout, and it is probable that
some fallout particles would be deposited on most of the country.
Areas close to a nuclear explosion might receive fallout within 15-30
minutes. It might take 5-10 hours or more for the particles to drift down
on a community 100 or 200 miles away.
Generally, the first 24 hours after fallout began to settle would be the
most dangerous period to a community's residents. The heavier
particles falling during that time would still be highly radioactive and
give off strong rays. The lighter particles falling later would have lost
much of their radiation high in the atmosphere.
FALLOUT CAUSES RADIATION SICKNESS
The invisible gamma rays given off by fallout particles can cause
radiation sickness--that is, illness caused by physical and chemical
changes in the cells of the body. If a person receives a large dose of

radiation, he will die. But if he receives only a small or medium dose,
his body will repair itself and he will get well. The same dose received
over a short period of time is more damaging than if it is received over
a longer period. Usually, the effects of a given dose of radiation are
more severe in very young and very old persons, and those not in good
health.
No special clothing can protect people against gamma radiation, and no
special drugs or chemicals can prevent large doses of radiation from
causing damage to the cells of the body. However, antibiotics and other
medicines are helpful in treating infections that sometimes follow
excessive exposure to radiation (which weakens the body's ability to
fight infections).
Almost all of the radiation that people would absorb from fallout
particles would come from particles outside their own bodies. Only
simple precautions would be necessary to avoid swallowing the
particles, and because of their size (like grains of sand) it would be
practically impossible to inhale them.
People exposed to fallout radiation do not become radioactive and
thereby dangerous to other people. Radiation sickness is not contagious
or infectious, and one person cannot "catch it" from another person.
PROTECTION IS POSSIBLE
People can protect themselves against fallout radiation, and have a
good chance of surviving it, by staying inside a fallout shelter. In most
cases, the fallout radiation level outside the shelter would decrease
rapidly enough to permit people to leave the shelter within a few days.
Even in communities that received heavy accumulations of fallout
particles, people soon might be able to leave shelter for a few minutes
or a few hours at a time in order to perform emergency tasks. In most
places, it is unlikely that full-time shelter occupancy would be required
for more than a week or two.
MANY KINDS OF FALLOUT SHELTERS

The farther away you are from the fallout particles outside, the less
radiation you will receive. Also, the building materials (concrete, brick,
lumber, etc.) that are between you and the fallout particles serve to
absorb many of the gamma rays and keep them from reaching you.
A fallout shelter, therefore, does not need to be a special type of
building or an underground bunker. It can be any space, provided the
walls and roof are thick or heavy enough to absorb many of the rays
given off by the fallout particles outside, and thus keep dangerous
amounts of radiation from reaching the people inside the structure.
A shelter can be the basement or inner corridor of any large building;
the basement of a private home; a subway or tunnel; or even a backyard
trench with some kind of shielding material (heavy lumber, earth,
bricks, etc.) serving as a roof.
In addition to protecting people from fallout radiation, most fallout
shelters also would provide some limited protection against the blast
and heat effects of nuclear explosions that were not close by.
Chapter 4
(pages 23-32) discusses the various types of fallout shelters that people
can use to protect themselves in case of nuclear attack.
FOOD AND WATER WOULD BE AVAILABLE AND USABLE
From many studies, the Federal Government has determined that
enough food and water would be available after an attack to sustain our
surviving citizens. However, temporary food shortages might occur in
some areas, until food was shipped there from other areas.
Most of the Nation's remaining food supplies would be usable after an
attack. Since radiation passing through food does not contaminate it,
the only danger would be the actual swallowing of fallout particles that
happened to be on the food itself (or on the can or package containing
the food), and these could be wiped or washed off. Reaping, threshing,
canning and other processing would prevent any dangerous quantities

of fallout particles from getting into processed foods. If necessary to
further protect the population, special precautions would be taken by
food processors.
Water