Civil defence

The international sign of civil defence. It is used as a protective sign.

Civil defence (or civil defense) is a system used to protect the civilians of a state from coming under attack. It involves plans for preparing for and responding to emergency situations, plans for evacuation, and plans for how to recover from attacks. In some countries, civil defence is seen as an important part of military defence. Programmes of this kind were first explored at least as early as the 1920s. They have been used in many countries, especially since the threat of nuclear weapons has become known.

Since the end of the Cold War, the focus of civil defence has become more and more for disasters in general. The new concept is described by a number of terms, each of which has its own specific meaning, such as crisis management, emergency management, emergency preparedness, emergency services, and civil protection.

Civil Defence Media

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  British First World War poster, bringing attention to the threat posed by aerial bombardment from German Zeppelins

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  Air Raid Warden testing his equipment in Brisbane in October 1942

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  Anderson shelters were widely distributed in the United Kingdom by civil defense authorities, in preparation for aerial bombardment.

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  Jewish Civil Defense group in Jerusalem in 1942. The group served as ARP Fire Wardens, equipped with water hoses and buckets, some wearing FW (Fire Watcher) Brodie helmets. Men are in uniform while women wear plain clothes. Composer Josef Tal stands next to the woman with a black sweater.

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  Civil Defense literature, such as Fallout Protection, was common during the Cold War era.

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  Civil Defense literature, such as Survival Under Atomic Attack, was common during the Cold War Era.

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  The United States and Soviet Union/Russia nuclear stockpiles, in total number of nuclear bombs/warheads in existence throughout the Cold War and post-Cold War era. However, total deployed US & "Russian" strategic weapons (ready for use) were far less than this, reaching a maximum of about 10,000 apiece in the 1980s.

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  The reinforced door of a fallout shelter of the civil protection in Switzerland. As of 2006, there were about 300,000 shelters in private and public buildings for a total of 8.6 million places, a level of coverage corresponding to 114% of the Swiss population.

Related pages

• Emergency shelter

Other websites

Media related to Civil defense at Wikimedia Commons