UTAH SHELTER SYSTEMS

2236 So. 3270 W. #2

West Valley, UT 84119

Paul Seyfried: 801-631-7684

Sharon Packer: 801-380-2932

Your shelter design, depth of cover, entrances, floor plan, and furniture and storage needs are all dependant upon your proximity to ‘Primary’ and ‘Secondary’ NBC targets and other manmade disaster threats. You should also consider the potential for natural disaster when assessing your shelter needs.

We have prepared the following disaster risk and threat assessment to help you (and us) in this evaluation. When considering these questions, consider both the probability and consequence of these disasters.

 THREAT ASSESSMENT:

• List the number of Primary Targets (major airports, military bases and other) within a 10-mile radius.How close are you to a large city of population over 200,000?

• List the number of secondary targets (dams, power plants, refineries and other) within a 10-mile radius.

• List the number of major highway interchanges within a 10-mile radius.

• Does your location have a history of large earthquake potential?

• Is your area prone to tornados?

• Is your area prone to hurricanes?

• Is your area prone to flooding?

• Is your area prone to fires?

• How many people do you anticipate will be housed in your shelter?

• Would you consider your locality to have high, low or medium humidity?

INSTALLATION and PLACEMENT ASSESSMENT:

• How high is your water table?

• What type of soil do you have in your location (sandy, clay, rocky, loamy)?

• How well does your soil drain (drains well, does not drain well)?

• Are their large rocks, shale or other obstacles in your soil?

• Do you have permafrost?

• How close to the proximity to your home, do you plan to place your shelter?

• Do you want an entrance from your shelter into your home or basement or garage?

• Must you have an entrance that is more than the 48” in diameter?

• Will you be building your home at or near the same time as the installation of your shelter?

• Can your landscaping easily be disturbed?

• Do you have a sprinkler system?

• How densely forested is your area (light, medium, heavy)?

• Where is the underground access for your utilities?

• Will you need to ‘truck out’ or ‘stage’ your backfill?Where, in proximity to your home, do you plan to place your shelter (front, side, back, under driveway, etc.)?

• Can a crane and large truck easily access this location?

NEEDS ASSESSMENT:

Entrances can be customized to enable handicapped people to access the shelter. Consider your proximity to targets and extremes in weather when deciding on the depth of cover. A cover of 8 to 10 feet will give excellent blast protection, as well as assure that your shelter will remain at a constant temperature. Most shelters at that depth remain between 45 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

When choosing the size for you shelter, consider 11 square feet of floor space, or 88 cubic feet of air space per person. Each person will require about 11 more square feet for food and supplies.

For maximum occupancy plan one bunk or hammock for each 3 people. Each person will then use the bunks for an 8-hour period. Do not forget to include social space. When you are not sleeping you will want a comfortable place to sit for eating and socializing.

You could customize your shelter to include flush toilets and showers if you have an unlimited source of water. Septic tanks are very vulnerable to blast, so you may wish to use only chemical toilets if in a blast zone area.

• How many people do you anticipate will be housed in your shelter?

• Do you anticipate housing any handicapped or elderly?

• What types of handicaps must be considered?

• How cold/hot are the extremes of your weather?

• How long do you think you will need to stay in your shelter?

• How much room will you need for food, water & supplies?

• What are your furniture needs?

• Do you have an outside source of water?