Israel Home Front Command Shelter-Finding Instructions For Rocket Attacks - Edited

Published: 08-08-2024

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Indoor Safety Guidelines

Decision Flow Chart

Indoor Shelter Guidelines Indoor Shelter Guidelines Indoor Shelter Guidelines

Text Version Of Instuctions

Israel’s Home Front Command (HFC) (Hebrew - Pikud HaOref) is a branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responsible for the protection of the civilian population during emergencies, including war, natural disasters, and other crises.

One of their key duties involves preparing and sharing preparedness guidelines with the general population.

As often happens in Israel, however, the translation from Hebrew to English left a lot to be desired.

As a clear understanding of the shelter-finding guidelines could be literally life-saving, I decided to rewrite them for clarity and for logic (the latter to enable them to be ) used in a custom GPT I created to provide information about them.]

While my edited translation may not be perfect, I hope it’s a little clearer than the original.

Important Disclaimer, Notes

  • This text was created from a copy of the Home Front Command guidelines around choosing a safe space as they appeared on the internet on August 7th 2024. No warranty is offered as to the accuracy of the information about that date.
  • No legal warranty is offered in respect of the accuracy of this translation generally. Please check the original resource and feel free to compare the two side by side.

Situation/Context-Specific Guidelines

The “context” is the situation you find yourself in at the time a rocket siren goes off.

Each step is ordered numerically.

Context 1: Indoors

Determine Available Time and Space

Determine how much time you have available.

Determine Your Best Shelter Option:

To do so, choose in this order:

Priority 1: Mamad, Mamak, or Public Shelter (Miklat)

If one is available, proceed to whichever is closest among this group of options:

  • Mamad (apartment’s designated protected space)
  • Mamak (floor’s protected space)
  • Mamam (institutional safe space)
  • Public shelter (miklat tzi’buri)

Priority 2: Inner Stairwell

If no Priority 1 shelters are accessible (and only then), proceed to an inner stairwell with:

Your priority should be one that meets these criteria:

  • It has no windows or openings
  • It has no external walls

The choice of which stairwell to select also depends on how many floors your building has:

  • If the building has more than three floors* choose a stairwell with at least two floors above it.

  • If the building has less than three floors**, choose the middle floor stairwell.

Priority 3: Non-Protected Room in Your Home

If no Priority 1 or 2 options are available (and only then), choose a non-protected room with:

  • Few outside walls (ideally none)
  • Few openings

The following rooms are not considered “inner rooms,” according to the directives:

  • Bathrooms
  • Toilets
  • Kitchens

Context 2: Outdoors

If you are outdoors when a rocket siren goes off, choose your shelter according to your context.

In A Built Up Area

If you find yourself outdoors in a built up area when a siren goes off (like a town/city) then you should:

  • Enter a shelter or a stairwell in a nearby building.
  • You should stay away from building entrances.

In An Open Area

If you find yourself outdoors and in an open area when a siren goes off, then you should:

  • Lie on the ground adopting the appropriate safe posture (protecting your heads with your hands)
  • In the event of a rocket impact, the blast wave from the explosion can generate dangerous fragments which are capable of injuring anybody who is standing or sitting

Context 3: Private Transport

  1. Determine Immediate Actions When Siren Goes Off:

    • Assess whether you can reach a nearby building for shelter.

  2. Identify Shelter Options Based on Situation:

    • If Able to Reach a Building
      • Stop by the side of the road.
      • Exit the vehicle.
      • Enter a shelter or a stairwell of a nearby building.
    • If Unable to Reach a Building
      • Stop by the side of the road.
      • Exit the vehicle and move away from it by the side of the road or the separation fence.
      • Lie on the ground and protect your head with your hands.
    • If Unable to Leave the Vehicle
      • Stop by the side of the road.
      • Bend beneath the window line.

  3. Execute Safety Procedures:

    • For Reaching a Building
      • Stop vehicle safely.
      • Exit vehicle quickly.
      • Find and enter the nearest shelter or stairwell.
    • For Moving Away from Vehicle
      • Stop vehicle safely.
      • Exit vehicle.
      • Move away to the side of the road or separation fence.
      • Lie down and cover head with hands.
    • For Staying in Vehicle
      • Stop vehicle safely.
      • Bend down below the window line.

Context 4: Public Transport

  1. Determine Type of Public Transport:

    • Assess whether you are on an intercity bus, student transportation, city bus, or train when the rocket siren goes off.

  2. Identify Shelter Options Based on Type of Transport:

    • Intercity Buses, Student Transportation
      • Driver should:
        • Stop the vehicle at the side of the road.
        • Open the doors.
      • Passengers should:
        • Bend beneath the window line.
        • Protect their heads with their hands.
    • City Buses
      • Driver should:
        • Stop on the side of the road.
        • Open the doors for passengers to disembark.
      • Passengers should:
        • Enter a nearby building.
        • If unable to reach a building, bend below the window line and protect their heads with their hands.
    • Train
      • Driver should:
        • Slow down to a speed of 30 KM/H for 10 minutes.
      • Passengers should:
        • Bend below the window line in the carriages.
        • Protect their heads with their hands.

  3. Execute Safety Procedures:

    • For Intercity Buses and Student Transportation
      • Driver stops vehicle safely and opens doors.
      • Passengers bend below window line and protect heads.
    • For City Buses
      • Driver stops vehicle safely and opens doors.
      • Passengers disembark and enter nearest building.
      • If no building is accessible, bend below window line and protect heads.
    • For Train
      • Driver slows down to 30 KM/H for 10 minutes.
      • Passengers bend below window line and protect heads.

Part 2: General Preparedness Guidelines

Choosing Between ‘First Priority’ Spaces

If you choice is between a mamad, mamak, shelter, stairwell or an inner room, then your choice should be determined by the time available to reach shelter, the level of protection it offers, and your ability to reach it in time.

If you receive an alert, enter the protected space and wait inside for 10 minutes.

The General Order Of Priority

  1. The first priority shelters are: a mamad (protected room in an apartment) or a mamak (protected space for a building).
  2. The second priority shelters are:
    1. An apartment building’s shelter
    2. A public shelter (miklat)
  3. The third priority sheltering space is an internal stairwall that has no windows, openings, or external walls. The following guidelines pertain to this space:
    1. In a building with more than three floors, which has no residential protected rooms, floor protected spaces or a public shelter – stay in a stairwell with at least two floors above it. Do not stay on the ground floor. In buildings with more than three floors, the stairwells of each floor, other than the top two floors and the ground floor, are protected.
    2. In a building with exactly three floors and with no residential protected rooms, floor protected spaces or a public shelter – stay in a stairwell of the middle floor. In such a building, the most protected floor is the middle (second) floor.
  4. The fourth priority shelter is an inner room and the following guidelines pertain to it:
    1. If there are no residential protected rooms, floor protected spaces, a public shelter, or an internal stairwell, choose an inner room with as few external walls, windows, and openings as possible.
    2. Do not choose kitchens, bathrooms, or toilets and keep away from ceramics, porcelain, and glass that might shatter.
    3. When receiving an alert, sit in an inner corner, below the window line and not facing the door.
  5. The last resort is to lie on the ground and adopt a protective posture according to the official guidelines.

Not Considered ‘Safe’ Spaces For The Purpose Of These Guidelines

  • Kitchens
  • Toilets
  • Bathrooms

These are the additional guidelines for sheltering indoors:

  • Stay away from ceramics, porcelains, and glass that may shatter.

Guidelines For Additional Specific Contexts

Alert Sounds While In A Prefabricated Structure

If an alert is received while you are inside a prefabricated structure, leave the building and go into the protected space in the time available to reach shelter.

Last Resort / No Shelter Available

If entering a protected space within the time available to reach shelter is not possible, leave the building, lie on the ground and protect your head with your hands.

Additional General Guidelines

Avoid Building Entrances

Stay away from the building entrance area.

This space is potentially suspectible to rocket fragments and blast waves due to impacts on nearby buildings.

Keep The Entrances To Buildings Open During Alerts

The entrance doors to buildings should be kept open for the benefit of those who may find themselves outside when the alert sounds [and need to shelter inside the building]

Places Chairs In The Stairwell For Tenants And The Elderly

For a significant portion of Israel’s population, the stairwall is the most protected space available.

Please consider placing chairs in it for the benefit of elderly residents.

Protected Space Maintenance Guidelines

For the protected space to fill its role in an emergency, it must be regularly maintained. The Home Front Command describes this (in English) as maintaining the “integrity” of the protected space.

The recommendations for “maintaining” the protected space are as follows:

  • Plan your route to the protected space in advance, make sure it is cleared of obstacles and obstructing items to prevent possible falls and injuries. Ensure that all passageways and stairwells are not blocked.
    • If your protected space is the residential protected room you are obliged to maintain its integrity and refrain from making changes unauthorized changes [to the space]
    • The Home Front Command maintains guidelines regarding legally prohibited uses for the protected room (mamad) and maintains guidelines for its maintenance.
    • If your protected space is the common building shelter, you are obligated to maintain its integrity and must refrain from making unauthorised changes to it.

General Preparedness Recommendations

Finally, these are some general preparedness recommendations that the Home Front Command / Pikud HaOref recommends:

  • Maintain emergency supplies in your household. During emergencies, Pikud HaOref often promulgates specific directives for retaining non-perishable food and water.
  • You should also maintain contact information for your family members which may be useful for emergency services
  • In the event of an emergency the outer steel window and inner glass window (of the mamad) must be closed and locked at the beginning of the emergency and until it is declared formally over.
  • If a double-wing glass window is installed, it must be removed and placed outside of the building protected room.

By: Daniel Rosehill

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