Duck and cover

For other uses, see Duck and cover (disambiguation).

A movie, geared towards children, portraying the act of ducking and covering by a turtle.

Duck and Cover was a suggested method of personal protection against the effects of a nuclear weapon which the United States government taught to generations of United States school children from the early 1950s into the 1980s. This was supposed to protect them in the event of an unexpected nuclear attack which, they were told, could come at any time without warning. Immediately after they saw a flash they had to stop what they were doing and get on the ground under some cover—such as a table, or at least next to a wall—and assume the fetal position, lying face-down and covering their heads with their hands.^[1] Similar instructions were given in 1964 in the United Kingdom by Civil Defence Information Bulletin No. 5.^[2] and, in the 1980s, by the Protect and Survive series.^[3]

Proponents argued that thousands could be saved through this precaution, without which people would instead run to windows to find the source of the big flash. During this time a shock wave would cause a glass implosion, shredding onlookers.^[4]

According to the 1946 book "Hiroshima", in the days between the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs in Japan, one Hiroshima policeman went to Nagasaki to teach police about ducking after the atomic flash. As a result of this timely warning, not a single Nagasaki policeman died in the initial blast. This allowed more surviving Nagasaki police to organize relief efforts than in Hiroshima. Unfortunately, the general population was not warned of the heat/blast danger following an atomic flash because of the bomb’s unknown nature. Many people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki died while searching the skies for the source of the brilliant flash.

Similarly, "Drop, Cover and Hold On" is taught in areas prone to earthquakes. Schools in some tornado-prone areas of the United States also practice tornado drills that involve children squatting and covering the backs of their heads.^[5][6]

Background

A Duck & Cover movie poster

The United States' monopoly on nuclear weapons was broken in 1949 when the Soviet Union tested its first nuclear device, and many in the government and public perceived that the United States was more vulnerable than it had ever been before. Duck-and-cover exercises quickly became a part of Civil Defense drills that every American citizen, from children to the elderly, practiced to be ready in the event of nuclear war. In 1950, during the first big Civil Defense push of the Cold War; the movie Duck and Cover was produced (by the Federal Civil Defense Administration) for school showings in 1951. At the time, it was believed the main dangers of a Hiroshima-type nuclear blast were from heat and blast damage^{[citation needed]}: to maximize material damage, the air-burst was the preferred nuclear tactic which maximized surface damage and resulted in fallout being dispersed into the stratosphere.^{[citation needed]} In the Operation Crossroads tests of 1946, Test Able (air burst) had little local fallout, but Test Baker (underwater) left the test targets badly contaminated with radioactive fallout, leading to cancellation of Test Charlie. Widespread radioactive fallout itself was not clearly recognized as a threat until 1954, after the Castle Bravo nuclear-weapon test in the Marshall Islands caused sickness and death in Japanese fishermen on the Lucky Dragon fishing vessel far outside the planned test area.^{[citation needed]}

Assessment

Within a considerable radius—depending on the explosion's height and yield—ducking and covering would offer negligible protection against the intense heat, shock waves, and radiation following a nuclear explosion.

The advice to "duck and cover" holds well in many situations where structural destabilization or debris may be expected, such as during an earthquake or tornado. At a sufficient distance from a nuclear explosion, the shock wave would produce similar results and ducking and covering would perhaps prove adequate. It would also offer some protection from flying glass and other small, but dangerous, debris. Ducking and covering would also reduce exposure to the gamma rays. Since they are mostly emitted in a straight line, people on the ground will have more chance to have obstacles such as building foundations, cars, etc. between them and the source of radiation. The technique offers a small protection against fallout - people standing up could receive a large, possibly lethal, dose of radiation, while people protected will receive less of it.^[7] The technique assumes that after the initial blast, a person who ducks and covers will move to a more sheltered area. It is a first response only.

In U.S. Army basic training in the 1970s, soldiers were taught to fall immediately down, covering face and hands and using their bodies to shield their weapons from the heat of the blast.

The exercises of civil defense are now seen as having less practical use than psychological use: to keep the danger of nuclear war high on the public mind, while also attempting to assure the American people that something could be done to defend against nuclear attack.^[8]

These messages, including children's songs, were used to educate the young public in case of nuclear attack.^[9]

Ducking and covering does have certain applications in other, more natural disasters. In states prone to tornadoes, school children are urged to 'duck and cover' against a solid inner wall of a school, if time does not permit seeking better shelter—such as a storm cellar—during a tornado warning. The tactic is also widely practiced in schools in states along the West Coast of the United States, where earthquakes are commonplace. Ducking and covering in either scenario would theoretically afford significant protection from falling or flying debris.

Earthquakes

In an earthquake, people are encouraged to "drop, cover, and hold on": to get underneath a piece of furniture, cover their heads and hold onto the furniture. This advice also encourages people not to run out of a shaking building, because a large majority of earthquake injuries are due to broken bones from people falling and tripping during shaking. While it is unlikely that "drop, cover and hold on" will protect against a building collapse, buildings built in earthquake-prone areas in the United States are usually built to earthquake "Life Safety" codes,^{[citation needed]} and a building collapse (even during an earthquake) is rare. "Drop, cover and hold on" may not be appropriate for all locations or building types, but many experts agree^{[citation needed]} it is the appropriate emergency response to an earthquake in the United States.

See also

• Blast shelter
• Civil Defense Geiger counters
• Civil Defence Information Bulletin
• CONELRAD
• Fallout shelter
• Nuclear weapon
• Nuclear warfare

• Duck and Cover (film)
• Nuclear War Survival Skills
• Protect and Survive
• The Atomic Café
• The House in the Middle

References

1. ^ military.com
2. ^ YouTube - Civil Defence Bulletin - No. 5
3. ^ YouTube - Protect & Survive
4. ^ The good news about nuclear destruction.
5. ^ Florida Disaster
6. ^ Plano, Texas ISD
7. ^ brneurosci.org
8. ^ Oakes, Guy. The Imaginary War: Civil Defense and Cold War Culture. 1994, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195090276, pp. 66-68
9. ^ Civil Defense & CONELRAD recordings

External links

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More spoken articles

• A critical assessment of ducking and covering
• Drop, Cover, and Hold On - American Red Cross drill (pdf file)
• Production history of the film Duck and Cover
• Duck and Cover! film at YouTube
• Prelinger Archive has Duck and Cover! available for download or streaming.
• Duck and cover at the Internet Movie Database