# Was there ever a plan for dealing with a national emergency? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 8, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889 "2006-09-08T09:19:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/1 "2006-09-08T09:19:35Z")
Was talking to my nephew today, and of course the convo turned to the upcoming 9/11 anniversary. He mentioned that, for the first hour or so, he wasn’t sure it was a terrorist attack and not pilot error, on account of – and this is something I can’t believe I’ve never thought of, or heard anyone else mention, in five years – there was no Emergency Broadcast! I mean (he said) for years, they’d have that “BOOP BOOP BOOP This is a test. Of the Emergency Broadcast System. If this were a real emergency…” you’d presumably be told where to go and what to do. So we finally had a bona fide national emergency, and no “This is not a drill” EBS! And then the second plane hit, and still no EBS! So he and his roommates just started cleaning their guns, figuring it was up to them to defend themselves if need be. My take on it was that, all along, there had never really been a workable plan for what people should do in a national emergency. Go to fallout shelters, maybe? Who even knows, these days, where the nearest fallout shelter is? Get under your desk and put your hands behind your head? Mob the freeways trying to get out of town so you can be picked off like ducks in a shooting gallery? Back in the '80s, during the “OMG the Russians could press the button any minute!” era, I accepted the fact that we wouldn’t have enough advance notice, and there was nothing practical to do anyway. I didn’t see **Miracle Mile** until recently, but I did figure it would be like the final scenes in that film. So was there ever a plan for what people should do if the missile silos opened up? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/2 "2006-09-08T12:01:11Z")
Every time I’ve heard a ‘for-real’ emergency alert it’s been for local emergencies like floods and severe weather, not for national-level events. Really, nationally what would an emergency alert do in a 9/11 situation? Broadcasting it in say, San Diego, wouldn’t do anything as there’d be no instructions to give people. One could alert people in NYC or Washington to evacuate but I was busy doing that already. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/3 "2006-09-08T12:17:07Z")
Quite right. I mean, and in this is in no way meant to belittle the events of 9/11, it was hardly a nationwide emergency. Four planes, one city block in Manhattan, a government building in Washington and a field in Pennsylvania in a country of six million square miles and 300 million people? Broadcasting warnings in Putzville Arizona would not have been much use. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/4 "2006-09-08T12:23:16Z")
Okay, but suppose there had been a nuclear attack? Was there any planned emergency response? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/5 "2006-09-08T12:24:19Z")
I mean, suppose there had been a nuke attack in the '80s, not on 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/6 "2006-09-08T12:31:23Z")
Yes, there are plans. This stuff goes back to the [CONELRAD](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_of_electromagnetic_radiation) days, where in the event of an attack, most radio stations would go off the air and you would tune your AM radio to the civil defense mark on the radio dial. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/7 "2006-09-08T12:35:43Z")
But then what? What were they going to tell you, about where to go and what to do? That’s my point. I remember someone in the ‘80s claiming that if there was ever a nuclear attack, we and the then-USSR would be courteous enough to give each other three days’ grace, so we could evacuate the major cities. Riiiiiight. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/8 "2006-09-08T12:50:06Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] But then what? What were they going to tell you, about where to go and what to do? That’s my point. I remember someone in the ‘80s claiming that if there was ever a nuclear attack, we and the then-USSR would be courteous enough to give each other three days’ grace, so we could evacuate the major cities. Riiiiiight. [/QUOTE] I imagine it would be much like a tornado warning. Stay inside, away from windows, preferably in a storm or fallout shelter. A basement would be a good place, if you have one. Outside, a slit trench provides excellent protection. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/9 "2006-09-08T13:15:30Z")
Really? A slit trench provides excellent protection against a nuclear attack? I’ve never heard that before… ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/10 "2006-09-08T13:20:22Z")
“When in danger, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout.” Seriously, the only nationwide plan I know of was during the cold war. Didn’t school children in some places practice the “duck and cover” routine? As **mks57** said, there was CONELRAD, but it has largely been forgotten. I know of no single emergency television channel and many of us don’t even have a radio any more. I think it is a stretch to say there “are plans” of this sort today. The military forces each have numerous response plans for use in various emergencies. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/11 "2006-09-08T13:40:43Z")
[QUOTE=miss elizabeth] Really? A slit trench provides excellent protection against a nuclear attack? I’ve never heard that before… [/QUOTE] It provides protection from the prompt thermal and ionizing radiation, and flying debris. Plus, you aren’t inside a structure that may collapse and burn. One meter of packed dirt is an effective radiation shield. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/12 "2006-09-08T15:51:07Z")
There were national plans for civil defense, but they would have been largely futile in the event of a full-blown WWIII. Some relics remain; workers recently found Cold War-era survival crackers and other stuff in a long-forgotten compartment of the Brooklyn Bridge. See the documentary _Atomic Cafe_ for a lot of unintentionally-hilarious civil defense footage of the 1940s-1950s. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/13 "2006-09-08T15:54:59Z")
The Conelrad test was run for many years. Never once did they send me my score. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/14 "2006-09-08T16:36:24Z")
[QUOTE=David Simmons] Seriously, the only nationwide plan I know of was during the cold war. Didn’t school children in some places practice the “duck and cover” routine? [/QUOTE] We did duck & cover drills when I was in grade school. Even as a kid, I suspected that hiding under my desk wouldn’t do much to save me from nuclear obliteration. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/15 "2006-09-08T16:47:33Z")
[QUOTE=Diceman] We did duck & cover drills when I was in grade school. Even as a kid, I suspected that hiding under my desk wouldn’t do much to save me from nuclear obliteration. [/QUOTE] Not if you were at ground zero. But if you were out in the suburbs and the bomb hit downtown it could have saved you from flash burns and injuries from flying glass. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/16 "2006-09-08T17:14:40Z")
The library where I worked was a civil defense shelter. The CD drums of supplies were still thre. I guess folks would have been told on the EBS broadcast to go there. They were to got to the basement, empty the survival drums, put in a liner and fill them with water. I wonder what would happen to the water pressure when every shelter in the country filled them at the same time. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/17 "2006-09-08T17:25:41Z")
The City of Fort Collins, Colorado, maintains [a civil defense history](http://www.ci.fort-collins.co.us/oem/civildefense.php) timeline. Today, DHS is in charge of the [National Response Plan](http://www.dhs.gov/dhspublic/interapp/editorial/editorial_0566.xml). ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/18 "2006-09-09T05:41:14Z")
[QUOTE=Colophon] Broadcasting warnings in Putzville Arizona would not have been much use. [/QUOTE] Especially if the national grid was down. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/19 "2006-09-10T23:18:10Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] Was talking to my nephew today, and of course the convo turned to the upcoming 9/11 anniversary. He mentioned that, for the first hour or so, he wasn’t sure it was a terrorist attack and not pilot error, on account of – and this is something I can’t believe I’ve never thought of, or heard anyone else mention, in five years – there was no Emergency Broadcast! I mean (he said) for years, they’d have that “BOOP BOOP BOOP This is a test. Of the Emergency Broadcast System. If this were a real emergency…” you’d presumably be told where to go and what to do. So we finally had a bona fide national emergency, and no “This is not a drill” EBS! And then the second plane hit, and still no EBS! So he and his roommates just started cleaning their guns, figuring it was up to them to defend themselves if need be. My take on it was that, all along, there had never really been a workable plan for what people should do in a national emergency. Go to fallout shelters, maybe? Who even knows, these days, where the nearest fallout shelter is? Get under your desk and put your hands behind your head? Mob the freeways trying to get out of town so you can be picked off like ducks in a shooting gallery? Back in the '80s, during the “OMG the Russians could press the button any minute!” era, I accepted the fact that we wouldn’t have enough advance notice, and there was nothing practical to do anyway. I didn’t see **Miracle Mile** until recently, but I did figure it would be like the final scenes in that film. So was there ever a plan for what people should do if the missile silos opened up? [/QUOTE] certainly. There were extensive plans during the cold war. I remember during the Cuban missle crisis (admittedly a long time ago), CD equipment (water bags, emergency food etc) were issued to one home per block in my town. Since we lived about 20 miles outside DC, not sure it would have done much good, but it certainly was a plan being put into action. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-plan-for-dealing-with-a-national-emergency/371889/20 "2006-09-11T01:13:12Z")
When I was working in radio, one night I took out the actual “This is not a test!” recording and listened to it. While I can’t remember word for word what it said, it was pretty much, stay in your home, stay off the phone and stay tuned for more information. Since I was, at the time, working the overnight shift, if the word had come, I would have been the only person in the station, and as clueless as anyone else.