Personal and Family Survival Department of Defense Office of Civil Defense Illustrated Handbook

Reference id: JAx7NS8whQw 292

Vintage handbook "Personal and Family Survival" by the Department of Defense, Office of Civil Defense, 1966.

Measures 8 5/8 inches tall, 6 inches wide. 127 pages.

Contents:

US Civil Defense, Modern weapons and radioactive fallout, public fallout shelters, fallout shelter occupancy, fallout protection at home, community shelter planning, preparing for emergency operations, emergence from shelters and recovery, survival on the farm

Introduction:

This manual is for your use in the Civil Defense Adult Education course. It can serve also as a basic home reference for personal preparedness. The Civil Defense Adult Education Program is managed for the Department of Defense, Office of Civil Defense, by the U.S. Office of Education, Department of Health, Education and Welfare. State Departments of Education arrage courses to be held in communities throughout the United States. Instructors are specially trained to teach this course and are furnished in the latest information available pertaining to it. Supplementary instruction is adapted, as feasible, to fit the local situation. This brief manual cannot possibly cover all aspects of the complex matter of United States civil defense. It does, however, provide a general orientation on the subject - enough to give a general understanding of why we have the program, who is responsible for doing what, how civil defense is organized as part of government, and some of the problems involved. Additional information may be obtained if desired from your State or local civil defense agency. Most importantly, you will come to appreciate the responsibility that you, members of your family, and all other individuals have in being prepared for emergencies. This manual can be a key to your survival. Your knowledge, interest, and actions can help your family and your community meet emergencies, whether they result from an enemy attack of natural disaster. Federal, State, and local governments are responsible for taking measures to safeguard the public in event of a civil defense emergency. To be successful, these emergency measures must depend upon understanding an action by the public and the steps individuals take for personal preparedness. Nuclear war can be a threat to anyone. There are no easy, no quick, solutions to defense against it. But there are ways of protecting those millions of people who would survive the direct effects of a nuclear attack. Shelters which can shield against fallout radiation from nuclear explosions are the principal means of protections. Fallout shelters would enable tens of millions, who otherwise would die from the effects of radiation, to live. Their survival, in healthy condition, would help assure survival of the Nation. The primary objective of the Office of Civil Defense is to help State and local governments provide the means for saving lives in the event of nuclear attack. The Office of Civil Defense provides leadership in creating a nationwide system of community fallout shelters; in stimulating development of plans for their most effective use; and assisting in development of all the necessary supporting systems, such as warning, direction and control, and shelter management. A major portion of a nationwide community fallout system is already in being. The distinctive yellow and black community fallout shelter sign is now a familiar identification on buildings and other facilities throughout the United States. The sign indicates a shelter area that would protect from fallout radiation following nuclear attack. It would be open to the public in the event of such an attack. The nationwide fallout shelter system is ever increasing as modern loc cost shielding techniques are designed for new and remodeled buildings and eventually become part of the shelter inventory. Ventilation improvements allow for greater capacity in some existing areas. A shelter space for everyone, readily accessible wherever he may be, is the objective. For the most part, shelters now available make use of the radiation shielding inherent in existing buildings. These were located by the National Fallout Shelter Survey, which began in 1961 and is being conducted by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and U. S. Navy Facilities and Engineering Command for the Office of Civil Defense on a continuing basis. This approach has helped keep the cost of the nationwide system low. Private fallout shelters - home, business, industry - are part of the total shelter resource of the Nation. The Office of Civil Defense encourages development of private shelters and provides technical guidance to help in their development. This includes a program to in form the homeowner of the protection provided by his home if it has a basement, and to advise him how this protection can be improved. Fallout shelters can protect the immediate survivors of nuclear attack. The U.S. Civil Defense program is dedicated to providing this protection, and in preparing the Nation to cope with disaster. The crucial factor in recovery from nuclear attack would be the survival of human life - the people who embody the skills, the energy, the capacity for organization, and the ingenuity which is our greatest national asset. Preparations are being made to insure postattack recovery.