Maxwell, that article contained some very good information from authorities who work in the relevant fields. Here is a copy of it...
Officials: Safe Room Is Not No. 1 Priority
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FBI official Van A. Harp discusses the recently heightened terrorism alert. At right are Executive Assistant Chief Michael Fitzgerald and Chief Charles H. Ramsey of the D.C. police. (Sarah L. Voisin -- The Washington Post) |
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Bioterrorism Preparedness Guide
Dirty bombs, anthrax and smallpox: An informative guide for to understanding the threat and protecting you and your family. |
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By John Mintz and Lyndsey LaytonWashington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 13, 2003; Page A01
Creating a safe room in a private residence is of limited utility in some kinds of terror attacks, and people should focus first on some of the more mundane steps of emergency preparation such as food and water supply, a family communication plan and evacuation scenarios, U.S. officials and civil preparedness specialists said.
The prospect of a family barricading itself in a plastic-wrapped safe room, highlighted this week by the Department of Homeland Security, has captured public attention, sending many people to hardware stores in search of the plastic sheeting and duct tape officials suggested they should have.
"I'm not going to tell people not to [prepare to construct a safe room], but there are so many other things that people have not done," said Randall Larsen, director of the private Anser Institute for Homeland Security and a retired Air Force colonel. "Creating a communications plan, having an extra supply of important prescription drugs, getting a good supply of diapers or infant formula if you've got infants."
There is no single strategy for Americans scrambling to protect themselves in an age of terror. The best advice depends on the attack's circumstances, civil defense and terrorism experts say -- what kind of weapon is used, the proximity and even factors as uncontrollable as wind direction.
Staying in a room sealed in duct tape and plastic sheeting could provide significant protection if terrorists attacked with toxic chemicals -- by blowing up a tanker truck, for example -- because the plume could dissipate in as little as an hour. Plastic sheeting could provide an effective shield for at least that long, though remaining in a well-sealed room for longer than a few hours would be impossible because the oxygen would run out, public health specialists said.
But if a nuclear weapon or radiological "dirty bomb" were used, seeking refuge in a plastic- and tape-sealed upstairs room in a house would be a poor tactic for avoiding radiation. In that event, the best place to hole up is in the basement of a large building, a subway tunnel or an underground home cellar. Plastic sheeting would not help, and people could be advised to stay indoors for days -- or weeks in a nuclear blast.
The federal announcement Monday unnerved people in Washington and New York. Although domestic defense officials wanted to avoid panicking people, they believe releasing even such disturbing advice is the responsible course given the government's conclusion that there is now a "high risk" of terrorist attack. Many Americans had remained in denial about the potential danger, even as the national threat index was raised Friday, they said.
"We're pleased people are heeding the advice," said a senior domestic security official. "But we know this information has to be given out in doses" to avoid a public stampede.
Officials said their Monday briefing was just the first stage in a highly orchestrated, long-term public education campaign that will provide information about the wide variety of possible terror attacks and how to respond to each.
Government officials acknowledged that they must communicate more clearly with the public about safe rooms. Under some terrorist attack scenarios, even those involving toxic chemicals, it would be ill-advised to flee into such a room. If terrorists sabotaged a chemical tank so that it released poisonous gas over several hours, the toxic plume likely would linger for a longer period than people could stay in the room, experts said.
In most cases of chemical or biological attack, the best idea is to get upwind of the source of danger. Paying attention to officials' advice on news reports is the way to determine how to do that, officials said.
Some news reports have said it is best to seek refuge from chemical attack in an upstairs room, but that isn't necessarily true, officials said. Although most toxic chemicals are heavier than air and tend to settle to the ground after release, they reach the buoyancy of the air around them when traveling downwind. Officials advised choosing the best room, not necessarily the highest, for "sheltering in place" from chemical releases.
To seal a room, officials advise pre-cutting plastic to cover room vents, doors and windows. Windowless rooms are best. "Turn off all ventilation, including furnaces, air conditioners, vents and fans," said a guide published by the Federal Emergency Management Agency several months ago.
"Ten square feet of floor space per person will provide sufficient air to prevent carbon dioxide buildup for up to five hours," the FEMA guide said.
Chemical vapors eventually will seep into even sealed rooms.
John Sorensen, a top emergency preparedness researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, said that in the 1990s, officials conducted detailed experiments in which people duct-taped plastic sheets to seal up rooms. They did it efficiently, reducing chemical infiltration by as much as 90 percent during the first hours, he said.
But the experiments yielded a second conclusion, as well.
"It had a very positive psychological effect," he said. "People said they really felt better doing the taping, that they weren't just sitting around waiting" to die. Officials said preventing panic and ensuring that the public remains focused enough to follow officials' instructions is paramount in civil emergencies.
If a terrorist attack spews radioactive particles into the air, experts say, three concepts should be kept in mind: Seek the heaviest possible shielding and the greatest possible distance from the radioactive material and stay away as long as possible.
FEMA's guidebook recommends "heavy, dense materials -- thick walls, concrete, bricks, books and earth -- between you and the fallout particles. . . . An underground area, such as a home or office building basement, offers more protection than the first floor of a building. A floor near the middle of a high-rise may be better, depending on what is nearby at that level on which significant fallout particles would collect. Flat roofs collect fallout particles, so the top floor is not a good choice, nor is a floor adjacent to a neighboring flat roof."
For biological attacks, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a physician and public health expert, recommended in his recent book, "When Every Moment Counts," that people have masks for each family member rated "N95" or better.
One option that a number of scientists said holds promise for protection is the installation in homes and office buildings of air-handling machinery. The High Efficiency Particulate Air, or HEPA, filter pumps filtered air into an area faster than the air can escape through cracks in the walls, creating "overpressure." This pressure imbalance makes it impossible for toxins in the outside air to enter the sealed area.
Marketers of the equipment, which sells for about $1,500 a home, say it could protect against a chemical or biological attack.
One proponent is Richard L. Garwin, a physicist with decades of government experience in technology and security. "The first and most practical defense against biological warfare attack is to maintain 'positive' air pressure of filtered air within buildings," he wrote in the New York Review of Books two years ago.
