Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 17-6: Modifying a room in your house to make a “safe room.”
In that case, I would use 10-mil (.010"/.25 mm thick) polypropylene plastic sheeting and
duct tape to cover all the windows, electrical outlets, and openings in the room to ensure it was
tank of air to provide positively pressured filtered air inside your safe room. Cracking the valve
on your air tank provides a small continuous air flow that creates a “positive pressure” in your
safe room with the excess air leaving the room through the few cracks that were not 100%
sealed by the duct tape and plastic, preventing any nonfiltered outside air from entering your
safe-room space. A large-capacity deep-cycle marine-type battery, and a low-cost inverter,
would provide a few hours of backup power for your HEPA filter in the event that the grid
power goes out during a crisis. Make sure you store a port-a-potty in your safe room to allow
people to relieve themselves, and perhaps one of those easily erected beach sunshade tents to
provide privacy to people while relieving themselves. Don't forget water, snacks, and provi-
sions for pets to also relieve themselves. Readymade filter systems for safe rooms are available
Even if you do not live in an area with a significant risk of chemical exposure or terrorist
attack, it is still a wise choice to keep the duct tape and plastic sheeting on hand just in case. In
the case of a local event necessitating the use of your safe room, a hastily sealed space will
provide improved protection for several hours. However, if you did a very good job of sealing
your room, you must consider oxygen depletion in a sealed room occupied by people. For a
100-square-foot 10 ft. × 10 ft. × 8 ft. (3 m × 3 m × 2.5 m) perfectly sealed room, occupied by
four people, the maximum occupancy time, without a source of oxygen or outside filtered air,
would be 2.5 hours tops (Deyo, 2006, 383). If you are staying inside a sealed temporary safe
room that lacks an oxygen supply or source of filtered outside air, I suggest you set a timer
every half hour to check for signs of oxygen depletion, including rapid shallow breathing,
dizziness, headaches, foggy thinking, or weakness. Falling asleep in a tightly sealed room oc-
cupied by several people might mean that none of you ever wake up!
Special Supplies to Have on Hand to Cope with a Nuclear Incident
Potassium Iodide (KI)
Studies of people who have been exposed to radioactive fallout have shown a high rate of
thyroid cancers and tumors, and that children and pregnant women are especially susceptible.
The body uses iodine to make hormones in the thyroid gland. Radioactive iodine is generated
