Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Safe Rooms for Tornadoes and Hurricanes: Guidance for Community and Residential Safe Rooms (FEMA P-361) - Third Edition Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

This third edition of FEMA P-361 presents updated and refined criteria for safe rooms compared to the second editionÕs 2008 criteria. The criteria presented in this publication address how to design and construct a safe room that provides near-absolute protection from wind and wind-borne debris for occupants. FEMA continues to support the development of consensus codes and standards that establish minimum acceptable requirements for the design and construction of hazard-resistant buildings. FEMA also supported and participated in the development of the original ICC 500 and the 2014 edition. Although the ICC 500 took much of what was presented in the first edition of FEMA P-361 and updated and codified it through the consensus standard process, some differences remain between the two documents. The differences between criteria are described at the beginning of each chapter of Part B of this publication.