Fallout Shelters
Jon Gorski
What are they?
Fallout shelters are small rooms installed all around America during the nuclear bomb creations. It is meant to protect oneself from the blast and radioactivity of an atomic bomb.
These shelters can be most effective when on the middle floors of some tall buildings or parking structures, or below ground level in most buildings with more than 10 floors.
People were alerted with sirens set up by the Emergency Broadcast System.
People were instructed to stay in for 2 weeks. When finally coming out, don't just come out and resume life, but start off by coming outside for an hour. Then work your way up.
Idealized American fallout shelter circa 1957.
A basic fallout shelter consists of shields that reduce gamma ray exposure by a factor of 1000.
A sign pointing to an old fallout shelter in New York City.
Fallout shelters were (and still are) everywhere.
Here is an image of "Fat Man"
This is one of the nuclear weapons that fallout shelters were aiming to protect from.
Reaction
When reading about these shelters, it was so weird trying to picture living in one of these small rooms for so long! Our lives seem so normal and day to day, but just thinking about an atomic bomb stopping it all is crazy. It would change so much, it's unfathomable. I do think that these shelters are a good idea, but I'm not sure how people would do living in those shelters, especially the claustrophobic ones.