Life in the Safe Room

During last month’s fighting between Israel and Iran, many Israeli families found themselves retreating to a safe room (a “mamad”) or moving in and out of one of Israel’s many bomb shelters. Exhausting and harrowing, it’s something Israelis adjusted to, but here in the United States, it’s hard to picture. So we put the question out on Facebook: “What does your safe room or bomb shelter look like?” and asked people to send both photos and comments. What we received formed a compelling picture of what passing time in a safe room is like.

Thank you to all who shared their spaces and experiences.

“Our mamad is in the basement and my husband can hardly walk (he’s in his 80s), so he can’t keep running up and down the stairs. We use our very little walk-in closet. I have a little stool for myself and I folded and brought in his walker for him. It had a fold down seat. We manage. B”H.”

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“It’s down in the underground car park, it’s bleak, ugly and claustrophobic. I hated every minute in there.”

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“My mamad during ‘normal’ times doubles as a walk-in closet.”

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“I have friends whose safe rooms were without doors because the previous owners remodeled the room and discarded them. Or even turned it into a bathroom. How unsafe is that?! Such arrogance.”

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“They are not safe anyway. They do not stop ballistic missiles.”

→ “They do actually. But can’t take a direct hit. Many, many people only survived when apartments were directly hit, but safe rooms stayed safe.”

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“We were in a school computer room…no windows and no air con, but we had a fan…And we were lucky…We had a 5-Star situation!!! We also had a baby with us.”

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“We use a neighborhood miklat. It’s full of army mattresses, plastic chairs and cases of water. Some of the families with little toddlers slept there.”

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“It’s no picnic.”

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“I had a tiny worm fall on my shirt, which I discovered only after returning to the house! The safe room is damp, dirty, cramped and scary too.”

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“Kibbutz bomb shelter. Sometimes we have 20-30 people coming during the sirens. We have bathrooms and 18 bunk beds. Really worth persevering and taking care of the bomb shelters.”

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“I have never been so scared in my whole life.”

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“Neighbors put down artificial grass…we had a table set up for water and cups and enough chairs for everyone in our building.”

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“You don’t want to see mine.”