Social Science Study of Safe Rooms and Storm Shelters in the United States, in Social Science Study of Safe Rooms and Storm Shelters in the United States

These research materials supported the study of thirty FEMA-funded safe rooms/storm shelters located in Missouri, Oklahoman, Louisiana, and Texas. The researchers visited these shelter to assess their alignment with research-informed best practices for human-centered sheltering. Included here are a checklist and an interview guide. The checklist may be used to evaluate safe rooms’ and storm shelters’ adherence to social science best practices for sheltering during site visits to assess their operations and design. The semi-structured interview guide contains open-ended questions and follow-up probes meant to gather information not captured in walkthroughs, including operational policies; user characteristics; personal experiences of both users and operators; positive and negative aspects of physical space and operations; community outreach and awareness of the safe room/storm shelter; public reluctance to use the safe room/storm shelter; and potential design considerations for future FEMA guidance.