Evening star., 1961-08-21
Atomic War Survival

The Star all the dangers of
thermonuclear war-Repre-
sentative Holifield's article,
also THE Razor Edge of
Danger for American Sur
vival" by George Romney.
Why don't you print some
thing the average American
citizen can benefit by? Like
how far underground is safe
from the fallout, where are
the water supply stations
that will be safe after the
attack, and dozens of other
questions the average person
would like to have the an
SwerS to. But no, what we
get in the paper is how long
after the attack it will take
to rebuild the country. Better
take first things first. If
there is no fresh water sup
ply, no matter how much
food is stored, people will
perish. A few jugs will not
be enough. While you are
concerned about under
ground shelters being built,
why not concentrate on a
few wells being dug or drilled
so the people can draw the
water up in case power is off
and the tap won't work?
Why not get the Civil De-
fense people to outline a
simple program for the SIM
pier people to follow? There
will be SO much panic when
it comes, the simpler the
rules the better.
You should have a survey
of homes far from the big
cities where people could go
lin case there is time), and
I am sure there are thou
sands of people who would
open their homes to the city
people in case of an attack.
I could sleep IL, and in
case of an emergency could
pack the house full. I am
sure there are other people
that would be willing. Let's
find out before too late.
Agnes N. Blum.
Harpers Ferry, w. Va.
y -
Let's have done with these
officials, who suddenly have
gone into the fallout shelter
promotion game.
Short of a deep shelter,
under tons of concrete and
earth (patently unfeaSible on
a mass basis) it is ludicrous
to talk of shelter" in a
prime target area such as
ours. Anything that by acci-
dent might still be around
after the initial blast effect
has passed, will we'll be taken
care of by the ensuing fire
storm. Hence, there is no
reason to concern yourself
with "fallout."
Now, were I to live some
100 miles west, in the noun
tains, I'd sure enough have
my own fallout shelter. I'd
even try to get my town to
prepare similar shelters for
such refugees from the East
ern Seaboard as may have
been lucky enough to get
away from it in good time.
With the chance of a few
weeks of "holing up" in these
hills, survival is a very def
mite possibility.
But if the big bang comes,
we on the Eastern Seaboard
in general and in Washing
ton especially are dead-and
radiation won't be needed to
accomplish that. It so hap
pens we are living in a prime
target area; it so happens
that it is economically un-
feasible to provide effective
shelters for even the smallest
number of us-outSide of the
PreSident-and there is little
point in wasting time, money
and effort kidding ourselves
otherwise. If these officials
were to at least try to pre-
pare public shelters against
fallout to the West of here,
perhaps a few of us might
get there and even have a
chance at survival.
I challenge any Civil De-
fenSe official to disprove
what I have stated here and
Substantiate it publicly. Else,
let each of us try to face
our possible fate as best we
can manage.
Eric ReiSfeld.