• Don’t wear military-style clothing. Wear bland colours that don’t attract attention, but differing shades top and bottom so it doesn’t look like uniform.
• Be careful if filming as a video camera can be mistaken for a weapon: the sun glinting off the lens can be mistaken for that off a weapon sight, or even for the flash of a weapon firing. It could attract attack on the ground and also from artillery or aircraft.
• Try not to have anything shiny that might attract attention.
• Be careful of using flash photography.
• Consider the implications of the markings on your vehicles – ‘Press,’ ‘Media’, the name of your charity or organization. Will it provide immunity or attract targeting? This changes according to the environment.
Monique Nagelkerke has worked for Médecins Sans Frontières for 20 years, and says that over time people living inside a war zone fail to remain alert and prepared for any eventuality. ‘The first time we were bombed by Khartoum forces in south Sudan it was Christmas morning. I was awake, but many were sleeping. A plane flew over, lower than usual. I put on my clothes and my contact lenses and got outside in time to see a plane fly back and bombs start raining down. I went straight to look for a team member who was still sleeping in her hut, grabbed her arm and yelled, “We’re being bombed.” She took out her earplugs and only then realized the danger. As we ran away – too late, the bombs had already landed – the earplug girl looked at me, and said in a lovely French accent, “I am not wearing my bra!” She clutched her rather large bosom in her hands and we continued running away from the stone buildings.
‘Lessons learnt: 1) When in a war zone, do not sleep with earplugs in. 2) Wear a bra when sleeping if you have a large bosom, in case you need to run. 3) Never continue looking at a returning plane when in an area that has already been bombed by similar-looking planes. Run!’
Study and rehearse the following procedures:
• Remain in the building.
• Keep communications equipment to hand.
• Stay together as a group.
• Take cover.
• Lock doors.
• Stay away from the windows.
• Raise the alarm using prearranged telephone numbers.
• Assess whether it is safe to exit the building or better to stay put.
Mary O’Shea recalls: ‘In Lebanon I was told to sleep in the bath when there was gunfire or shelling.’
• Move into the safe room (see Safe Room) or bomb shelter. Failing that, go under the stairs or into a room with no outside walls.
• Wait for the all-clear before venturing out.
• If there is time as the situation deteriorates, remove glass from the windows and any clutter from the room as it will fly around and cause injury in the event of a blast. Wet mattresses placed up against the walls will absorb fragments and possibly bullets.
• As a last resort, go onto the roof, if accessible. Once everyone is out there, lock the access door, stay away from the edge and signal for help with a torch, mini-flares or a phone.
Your first priority should be to take cover:
• Don’t look for the person firing – use your ears and move away from the sound.
• Don’t take cover in a place that someone was recently using as a firing position.
• If caught in the open, go immediately for the most obvious cover, such as a dip in the ground, then assess the situation.
• If you have a car, avoid hiding near the petrol tank, and remember that the door will be useless protection. Try to get behind the engine block, by one of the front wheels.
• If you need to observe to assess the situation, look around but never over whatever you are using as cover.
• If in a group and trying to escape the danger, move individually and at intervals, as unpredictably as possible.
• Leave any equipment behind if it is going to hinder your escape.
Monique Nagelkerke agrees totally with this advice, and says: ‘Keep your head down. So many times people stand up, look around or look out of the window when there is shooting and shelling going on. The best reaction is literally to keep your head down. Dig down behind a wall, behind a copy machine, behind a coffee table – anything as long as you do not stand up and look around.’
• If the bomb threat comes over the phone, ask the caller as many questions as possible and take down the details, e.g. where the bomb is planted, when it will be detonated and why. Also note whether the caller is male or female, the accent, attitude, any background noise, etc.
• Evacuate the target area.
• Inform the authorities, military, etc.
• Take cover immediately. Lie down under whatever cover is available, even a table or bed. As soon as it’s practical to do so, move to a bomb shelter or safe room.
• Assess the situation and bomb direction, then, when safe to do so or under orders, move to the emergency exit in the opposite direction from the sound of the bomb. There might be a secondary device or a gunman picking off targets at the main exit.
• Use prearranged escape routes (see Exit Plan).
• Do not stand in any gathering or crowd. The threat of a secondary bomb or bomber remains.
The Holy Koran says that whatever happens to us is our destiny, and we trust in the Holy Koran. The date for our death is written; we cannot change it.
5/ Keeping Safe in a Crowd, Protest or Riot
In a war zone you have to be thinking all the time ‘What if…?’ Don’t get isolated within a crowd or within a war zone… physically or emotionally.
The people I love are those who tend to follow the path least travelled. They’re the opposite of me: I have always felt the magnetic pull of a crowd. If I hear a party, I’ll knock on the door. I see a queue and I wonder whether it’s worth joining. If I am on the edge of something, I want to be in the middle. It’s a weakness that nearly saw me killed several times in Iraq.
Curiosity has driven me into all sorts of dangerous situations. I am often more interested in what I am going to find out, or what I can be a part of, than assessing whether it is safe to go ahead. It was only when I started putting other people’s lives in danger that I began to stop and think.
Between Basra city and its airport, where the UK-led forces were based, there was a large crossroads. As the only safe route in and out of the city in that direction, it became a popular protest hotspot in the summer of 2003. They were always sure to grab the attention of passing troops.
I was a freelance reporter with a licence to poke my nose in where it wasn’t wanted. A few of my best stories had come from walking up to small, sensible demos and asking what they were complaining about. In the lawless world that was post-invasion Iraq it was one of the few ways for people to vent their anger and make their point known. There were no trusted police, soldiers or politicians to turn to. The only options were to demonstrate or pick up a gun. But those smaller, controlled gatherings were like an entry drug into the world of riots. I was quickly addicted.