Nitro Pak

Everywhere you turn, whether its cable news, the papers, movies, or even your church; the signs are all out there. These are dangerous times. Natural disasters seem more devasting every year, even global catastrophe seems more possible than ever. Emergency Shelters used to be the purvue of people living on the fringe, but not anymore. Any sensible person today will have at least a modest survival kit. The more pessimistic will have a emergency shelter stocked with enough supplies for a prolonged emergency or disaster.

Several companies offer emergency survival backpacks. These are kits that will sustain you, your family or office for up to 72 hours. The best online supplier is Survival Gear Outpost. They offer excellent emergency backpacks and kits that contain everything you would need in the event of a hurricane, earthquake, tornado, flood or any other disaster. They even have survival backpacks for childred and smaller kits for your car or boat. You can also purchase survival supplies individually.

A home kit is something every family should think about making. It could be a small closet that contains all emergency supplies (fire extinguishers, first aid kit, storm supplies, etc). Canned foods, some (stabilized) water, and maybe a 10 lb. sack of rice are a good start. A particularly nice thing to have is one of those hand-cranked radios. About 30 seconds of cranking will give you about 20-30 minutes of sound. I use one of these while camping. Its also nice to keep some candles, flashlights and a radio there.  For a decent discussion on home preparedness and kits

Now for the serious emergency shelter, Nitro Pak sells food and water packages meant to sustain you for a year or more. Whether your shelter is a recommissioned basement or a separate structure, shelter itself is not enough. Your shelter will need to be stocked with everything you will need to sustain you in relative comfort.

An emergency shelter or safe room is normally constructed to provide protection from hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, or man-made disasters.

For more information on constructing a shelter designed to provide "near-absolute protection" from tornadoes and hurricanes read the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) document Building an Emergency Shelter for Your Home, this guide provides guidance that makes sense even outside the USA. Please keep in mind that no emergency shelter can offer protection against sudden floods and storm surges - evacuation is the only option in such cases.

An obvious location that many people decide to fortify as a emergency shelter is the garage. Garages are usually already fairly secure, they have a concrete floor and solid walls. Even better is a basement, choose a corner with two concrete walls. This affords the greatest amount of protection.

A basement emergency shelter is the most secure area from a hurricane or tornado, but should never be used in the event or possibility of sudden flooding. A basement emergency shelter is also the least expensive option since it will already be reinforced by concrete and dirt.

The best, but much expensive alternative is to build an underground emergency shelter from the ground up.

The materials you use in constructing your underground emergency shelter can range from cement block or stone, wood, poured reinforced concrete, and steel. The most important factors are strength and support. The shelter must be strong enough to withstand the pressures exerting around it, while supporting the three feet of soil above it. Understand that soil becomes heavier as it gets soaked from rain and snow.

Obviously, an underground emergency shelter that is too wide while too long would need added support - a lot of added support - and could still become unstable over time. Take a "12 feet wide" by "12 feet long" shelter, for example. Unless you have expensive steel roof trussing, you are definitely going to need additional supports (such as poles or posts) emplaced along the center of the room. But, a wood-framed shelter which is short in girth can be as long as you want it to be. For example, an underground emergency shelter which is 6 feet wide and constructed with tightly placed 6" x 6" pressure treated wooden ceiling beams can be 100 feet (or more) in length. And, if constructed correctly it will not need additional interior supports (like poles or posts running along the center).

Wood-Framed Underground emergency Shelter
The best (and least expensive) configuration calls for a wood-framed underground emergency shelter. One which contains enough room to not make you feel closed in, yet not so wide as to permit a cave in. A wood-framed underground emergency shelter that is about 8 to 10 feet wide, with a support post/pole situated every 4 or 5 feet along its center is arguably one of the best that can be built. The length of this type of shelter can vary. But, constructing one like this will be easy and cost effective. The simplicity of building such an underground emergency shelter is better appreciated as the length of the shelter is extended. The greatest advantage of a wood-framed underground emergency shelter is that just about anyone can build one.

Block-Framed Underground emergency Shelter
An underground emergency shelter constructed with block offers a solid, strong frame. The costs associated with working with cement and cinder blocks can be higher than the costs of a wood-framed shelter. And, most of us are not brick masons . . . meaning we would have to hire a professional to build our shelter's frame.

Once completed, you should stock your shelter. Nitro Pak offers the greatest "in bulk" selection of emergency food supplies and items.

FEMA Standards

You can find all the FEMA specifications for converting a garage or basement into a safe room or emergency storm shelter by clicking here emergency shelter

FEMA uses these terms interchangeably.  A residential safe room is designed to protect families or small groups of people (up to 16). The ICC-500 provides the minimum design and construction requirements for extreme-wind storm shelters and is expected to be incorporated (by reference) into the 2009 International Building Code (IBC) and International Residential Code (IRC). It is important that those involved in the design, construction, and maintenance of storm shelters be knowledgeable of both FEMA guidance and ICC standards that pertain to sheltering from extreme winds.