What to do if a dirty bomb goes off

Official updatesLU-Alert · RTL, 100.7 · 112

Do this now

Get away from the smoke and dust, and cover your nose and mouth with a cloth. Leave your belongings behind.
Go inside the nearest solid building and stay there. A solid building offers better protection than a car.
Close the doors and windows, and switch off ventilation, heating and air conditioning. Stay in a room in the middle of the building, away from doors and windows.
Take off your outer clothes and shoes as soon as you are inside. This removes up to Status: Verified of the dust. Put them in a closed bag, away from people.
Shower or wash with soap and water, hair first, and put on clean clothes.
Switch on the radio, Status: Verified, and watch for LU-Alert messages. Plan to stay inside for at least Status: Verified hours, or until the authorities say you can leave.
Leave the children where they are: schools and crèches follow the official instructions. Call Status: Verified only if someone is hurt, and text rather than call otherwise.

Under Luxembourg’s CBRN plan, the government announces protective measures through LU-Alert, sirens, the radio and infocrise. Learn the signals on Alerts and sirens.
A dirty bomb is an explosive that spreads radioactive dust. Sheltering works the same way as in a nuclear alert: get inside, stay inside, listen to the radio.

Stock water, Status: Verified per person per day for Status: Verified, and food you can eat without cooking. See the emergency kit checklist.
Keep strong plastic bags, soap and a spare set of clothes and shoes for each person.
Learn now how to switch off the ventilation at home and at work.
Keep a battery or wind-up radio and a charged power bank in the kit.

Iodine tablets protect only the thyroid. Take them only if the authorities tell you to, and never go outside to look for them.

Come out only when an official message says it is safe. Follow the instructions on where you may go and which areas stay closed.
Keep the bag of clothes closed and away from living areas until the authorities say what to do with it.
Do not eat anything from your garden in the affected area until the authorities say you can. Wash pets before you let them back in.
Follow official instructions on who needs a contamination check and where to go.
Feeling anxious after such an event is common. Talk about it with people close to you, and see Coping with a crisis if it does not ease.

Help them take off their outer clothes and wash, and explain in plain words: we stay inside, we wash the dust off, we listen to the radio.

If you need help to undress or wash, ask someone you trust and tell them what happened, so they can protect themselves too.
Keep your medicines for at least Status: Verified within reach, with the chargers for any equipment you depend on.

Keep them inside with you. If they were outside, wash them before you let them in.

You do not need to go down. Choose an inner room or the hallway, away from the windows, and keep the windows shut.