What is the minimum square footage per person that should be provided in a safe room?
Square footage per person design criteria are described in FEMA 361, Design and Construction Guidance for Community Safe Rooms (Second Edition, 2008), Sections 3.3.1(n), 3.4.1(n), and 3.5.1(n) for tornado, hurricane, and residential safe rooms, respectively. See Tables 3-1, 3-3, and 3-5 from FEMA 361 for tabular summaries of the minimum recommended usable floor area in sf per safe room occupant. In general, when designing tornado safe rooms, the criteria for minimum square footage are 5 square feet (sf) per person for standing or seated occupants, 10 sf per person for wheelchair-bound occupants, and 30 sf per person for bedridden occupants. For hurricane safe rooms, the minimum criteria are 20 sf per person for standing or seated occupants, 20 sf per person for wheelchair-bound occupants, and 40 sf per person for bedridden occupants. FEMA 361 also presents criteria for additional square footage when the occupant load is 200 individuals or more. For residential safe rooms (for one- and
