The French government has released a manual on how to survive a terrorist attack in the wake of the Nov. 13 co-ordinated attacks that killed 130 people and wounded hundreds in Paris.
The guide, titled “How to respond to a terrorist attack,” is a series of illustrated safety cards that provide “practical instructions” on how to escape, hide and alert authorities if citizens find themselves under threat. The online cards are of a similar design to airline safety cards found on a passenger flight.
“Following the attacks of 13 November 2015, the Government launched a campaign to better prepare and protect citizens against the terrorist threat,” the French-language introduction states.
The guide instructs people to try to escape an area under attack. If they cannot do so safely, the guide says, individuals should barricade themselves inside a room, turn off devices giving off light and sound and stay low to the ground near openings such as windows.
People who are able to flee to safety should “alert people around you and discourage them from entering the zone of danger,” another panel states.
Two days after a mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., killed 14 people, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office in Florida also published a checklist on Facebook with instructions on what to do in case “you are faced with a gunman” on a shooting spree.
Unlike the French guide, tips from the Sheriff’s Office include fighting back against attackers, but only as a last-resort.
“If you take nothing else from this post, please remember these three words: RUN, HIDE, FIGHT,” the post said.
The sheriff’s office said individuals under attack should “get out as fast as you can,” and if they cannot escape, hide.
“If you cannot escape and there is no place to hide, then you are left with only one option and that is to fight,” the post says.
The post also included an instructional video called “Run Hide Fight – Surviving An Active Shooter.”
