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[therealocelot]

Random information gathering. Feel free to answer if you're not on my friends list, if you stumble upon this post at some point in the distant future, or repost if you happen to share my curiosity

Comments

[geminigirl]

I grew up outside New York City-about 60 miles or so from it...a bit west from the (never operational) Shoream nuclear power plant, across the water from the Groton sub base. I was born in 1975, and we did have, in addition to fire drills, the duck and cover drills in elementary school. I don't recall them in junior high or high school though. And no civil defense sirens. However, the firehouse that I grew up near (about half a mile away) would sound their siren at noon each day

[therealocelot]

I don't know what our local schools do, either. silkensteel says they do lockdown drills, which may be the new version of duck'n'cover for non-earthquake-prone locales.

[geminigirl]

The idea of duck and cover for earthquakes seems strange to me-it was about nuclear war. I grew up in a non-earthquake prone area though.

[trinker]

When I was a kid in public schools in the 80's, in L.A., it was well known that "duck & cover" was going to do bupkis for nuclear war, at least in the L.A. area. My peers all hoped we'd be at ground zero and not in the "survivable as nuclear zombies" zone. Duck & cover was for earthquakes, and there were fire evacuation drills.

[zyzyly]

I was in kindergarden in the early 60s--like 1962, and we had air raid drills. the teacher would close the drapes and we would get under the tables. I used to practice climbing under my bed at night in case they lobbed a couple of nukes my way.

We had a civil defense siren in town, and it would go off at noon every day. We called it the noon whistle.

There was an air raid shelter in town-the basement below the Mervyn's store. When we weren't under attack, it was a bowling alley.

[therealocelot]

At least you wouldn't be bored if there was a nuclear war!

We had a fallout shelter under the library. I always wanted to go there and see what it was like. I'm sure there were others around town too, but I don't know where, though I think I heard there was one under our elementary school. There was a big weird concrete-and-metal thing in the ground near on a lot near our house, and I thought it was a bomb shelter, but it actually had something to do with water pumping.

[twirlingecho]

I was born in 1975. Growing up south of Houston, TX, the only duck and cover style drills we did were for tornadoes. I only actually remember doing one- in first grade, but there may have been others I don't remember. We didn't have sirens of any sort.

Now in central Texas, we have tornado sirens. They are tested the first Friday of each month. The few times we have heard them at night, when a storm is raging, the sirens are haunting.

The schools around here only do regular fire drills- no duck and cover.

[trinker]

Born in 1970, Southern California. Definite duck & cover drills, labelled "earthquake drills". Under the school desk. No civil defense sirens.

I only saw those in North Carolina last year. But they never seemed to test them.

The new thing appears to be lockdown drills, as evidenced by the mommy & me class on Friday. No ducking and covering. Locking the doors and windows, if it were a real emergency they're supposed to *tape* the gaps. (o.O !!!) LAUSD has done a few of them "for real" recently in response to gun violence or claims thereof. Procedure's still badly understood, they had kids banned from the bathrooms, and told to pee in a bucket. Claims were made that teachers were to have supplied sheets for privacy. Yikes.

[tellinellen]

we just did firedrills. born 1974, private schools, nyc. no duck and cover.

now the boys do both firedrills and "rapid dismissal" to do.