Guide · Shelter
Finding shelter in a town or city
After a storm, flood, earthquake or long power cut, your home or the buildings around you may not be safe or warm. Here's how to choose and use shelter in a built-up area.
Official shelters first
Local authorities often open emergency shelters, warm rooms or rest centres in schools, sports halls or community buildings. Listen to a battery or wind-up radio and watch for posters. These places have heat, water, first aid and information, and they are usually the safest choice.
Is a building safe to enter?
Stay out if you notice any of these:
- Cracks in walls, leaning walls or a sagging roof.
- A smell of gas. Leave, don't use switches or flames, and warn others.
- Standing water near electrics, or downed power lines nearby.
- Signs of fire or smoke damage.
- After an earthquake, expect aftershocks. Damaged buildings can collapse later.
Making one room warm
If you are staying at home or in a safe building without power, heat one small room rather than the whole space.
- Choose an inside room with few windows, ideally away from the wind side of the building.
- Close doors and block draughts under them with towels or rolled clothes.
- Cover windows with blankets, curtains, cardboard or bubble wrap.
- Bring everyone together in that room. People, and pets, add warmth.
- Put rugs, cushions or cardboard on the floor to sit and sleep on.
Dangerous heating
Never bring a barbecue, camping stove, patio heater or generator indoors, or into a garage or tent. They produce carbon monoxide, which you can't see or smell. Headache, dizziness, sickness and sleepiness are warning signs. Get into fresh air immediately.
In the heat
In a heatwave without power, the coolest place is usually a ground-floor or basement room. Close curtains on sunny windows during the day and open windows at night if it is safe.
If you have to move
- Avoid underpasses, basements and riverside areas during floods.
- Keep away from glass-fronted buildings and tall signs in strong wind.
- A car park or open ground is safer than inside a damaged building after an earthquake.
- Tell someone where you are going.
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