IN EVENT OF RAID

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 118, 21 May 1942, Page 5

IN EVENT OF RAID

SAFEGUARD HEALTH

INSTRUCTIONS OUTLINED

In modern air warfare disease can take a greater toll of human life than bullets or bomb splinters. Dr. Hubert Smith, of the Health Department, can speak as to the truth of this from grim experience, as 'he was in Shanghai when the first Japanese bombers arrived over that city.

In an interview with "National Education," Dr. Smith, outlining instructions which, he maintained, should be followed in every heme, stated that plain speaking was necessary. "We must leave the realm of vague theory and get right down to actualities," he said. "We must make our own preparations so that we will be in the best state possible to get over the difficulties which we now expect."

Dr. Smith referred to the instructions which had been prepared by the Health Department in co-opera-tion with the sanitary section of the Wellington E.P.S. Some of the matters, it was stated, were not very pleasant, but the points considered were intended to help people to live as decent a life as possible, in spito of damage to city &r borough amenities—tAe water supply and sanitary services particularly.

These things were usually considered as being permanent, but they might be destroyed or put out of action for a long period, and people would have to carry on as well as possible without them. "Remember/' urged Dr. Smith, ' anyone who fails in the proper preparation, or in the carrying out of these instructions when trouble is here, is a danger to the rest of the community as well as to himself, and is a drag cn the efforts of the rest of us." The following points were dealt with by Dr. Smith:— Water It is essential to have water and it is necessary that it should be safe. If we are raided, water mains will be broken, and in any case water will be needed for fire-fighting purposes. So no water must be wasted. While the emergency exists, all drinking water should be boiled. Making it into tea or coffee, or adding it to dried milk, makes it palatable as well as safe. A day's supply of essential water for drinking and ccoking (say one gallon per head of the family) should always be on hand in a container, which should be kept covered.

Remember that rain water from the roof can be obtained in wet weather merely by fixing the spouting and downpipe so that water may be collected in a bucket if you have no rain-water tank for this purpose. Rain water need not be boiled, though poison gas or a close explosion might make it unsafe to drink.

The gas or power supply serving any hot water service should be immediatater switched off, and if water is heated by range the fire should be raked out.

Drainage Until you are informed that the drainage system is properly functioning the W.C. should be locked or boarded up so that it cannot be used, and no waste water from sinks, baths and washtubs should be allowed to run into the drain. Temporary washing provision should be made by use of basins, emptied as described later. Do not wait for instructions that the sewers are damaged if a raid should occur. These are things, like the water mains, that will be damaged. Damage to one almost invariably will mean damage to the other, since they are laid close together in the roads. (This, by the way, is the main reason for boiling your drinking water, as sewerage will seep into a cracked, empty water main from the broken sewer close by.)

A temporary pan closet must be fixed up, in an outhouse, if available, using a bucket or tin, and provided with a lid to exclude flies. Two receptacles should be provided in the closet, one for liquid and the other for solid excreta. For ease of disposal it is preferable to keep the latter pan as dry as possible, and efforts should be made to ensure this. A box of dry earth should also be provided for covering the excreta.

If sewers are damaged it is likely that W.C.'s may be unusable for a considerable period, and the disposal of night soil may be a matter of serious concern. A night soil collection service will be set going as soon as possible to deal with those areas with an inadequate garden, but all householders who have any garden at all must make arrangements for burial of night soil on their own property, even if it should mean temporary loss of the front lawn or most prized flowed becL

Disposal of Xight Soil

The garden should be plotted out methodically in strips of between three and five feet in width. A trench (spade depth only) should be dug along the width of the strip at its far end, into which the night soil can be placed. The trench is then filled in by digging another line which will cover the night soil, at the same time providing another trench for uie next load. In this way the haphazard digging of holes is avoided the maximum use of the garden is reached, and night soil is buried in the top loam which allows it quickly to disintegrate. Disinfectants in the night soil bucket are best avoided as this prevents the rapid decay. The night soil bucket should be rinsed out \\ ith used ablution water, and the rinsings poured into the trench it' 1 ® night soil before covering