What Safety Experts May Have Been Thinking
hermes beltA front page photograph in the New York Times on Thursday, October 21, depicted fourth grade students from San Francisco's Alamo Elementary School huddled under their desks as part the annual earthquake drill that the state of California has dubbed the Great California Shakeout.
This photograph brought to mind the Civil Defense "Duck and Cover" drills conducted by schools and communities in the 1950s and 1960s, and I went in search of information.
How did safety experts come to feel that hiding under a desk or in a hallway with one's hands over one's head might safeguard against being injured in an earthquake (now) or protect against nuclear catastrophe ( the '50s and '60s)?
Protecting normal citizens from the possibility of attack became a concern in World War I but the fear was vastly heightened by World War II as British citizens regularly had to cope with the threat of bombings by seeking protection in underground rail stations. government.
While there were American emergency councils as early as 1917, there was no major government focus on civil defense until the early 1950s. In 1949 the Soviets successfully detonated their own atomic bomb, robbing the United States of their brief status of being the only country with nuclear weapons. Schools were the logical focal point for this training as they already had tentacles into most parts of the community.
The "Duck and Cover" philosophy began at this time. Little was known about radioactive fallout, and many experts believed that the danger from a nuclear blast was from the effect of the blast (glass and debris flying through the air), the heat, and only to some extent, radioactivity. They were aware that people would not be able to escape a blast, so protecting against flying debris (duck) and heat (cover to minimize head or neck burns) made a certain degree of sense
tiffany blue nikes.
A poster that was used in Concord, New Hampshire read:
When you see a flash of light brighter than the sun---
During 1952 the Civil Defense Administration created a convoy of ten trucks and trailers that toured with civil defense dioramas and posters showing ways to "beat the bomb." An estimated 1.1 million people visited the convoy
vanessa bruno, and more saw the film, "Duck and Cover," which was screened in schools and aired over television airwaves
Pandora Charms. The film featured a pith helmet-wearing turtle named Bert who shows what needs to be done as soon as an American sees a "flash of light brighter than the sun." Check out this short clip.
1954: A Pivotal Year for Knowledge
Ivy Mike
lululemon, the code name given to the first nuclear test of a fusion device, made it clear that children huddled under coats in hallways (a recommendation at some schools) was not adequate against a weapon that created a crater 6
tiffany blue nikes, 240 feet (1.9 km wide and 164 feet (50 meters) deep
tiffany blue nikes. The fireball from Ivy Mike was approximately 3.25 miles wide and the mushroom cloud rose to 57,000 feet.
On the Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands an additional test, known as Castle Bravo, was also conducted in 1954. This test clearly revealed the dangers of radioactive fallout, something the scientists had felt was not an issue when bombs were detonated via air fusion. The residents of the atoll who returned after the test were sickened by the radiation, and radioactive particles were deposited across 7,000 miles, poisoning some Japanese fishermen who were thought to be well out of the range of the test area.
Despite this information, the Civil Defense Administration continued to encourage "Duck and Cover" drills. The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 brought fear of the unknown to even greater heights
lululemon sale.
In addition to "Duck and Cover" the government also went through various periods where they encouraged communities or individual families to build bomb shelters. Those without a bomb shelter were still to have on hand a four-day supply of food and water and a first-aid kit. Th
Chat Sentinela
