Community fallout shelters may seem like a relic from the Cold War era. But the idea of having provisions and protection during disasters like the recent hurricanes in the South and storms in the Northeast have some people longing for the days of backyard bomb shelters and Civil Defense air-raid drills.

"It started during 9/11," said George Levitt, executive director of the American Civil Defense Association in Draper, Utah. "That kind of made the world aware of the realities that we're not impenetrable. My 12-year-old came to me and said, 'Daddy, are we safe here?' I didn't really know what to tell her."

Since joining the American Civil Defense Association last year, Levitt has heard a growing number of people ask that same question. While the group does not disclose its membership figures, Levitt said it grows by 10 percent each week.

Funded by $36 annual membership fees and supplies sold at its Web site, www.tacda.org, the association is pushing for the re-creation of the Cold War-era Civil Defense program in the form of a national community shelter program, tax incentives for people who build private shelters and national standards for private shelters.

The association soon will begin sending alerts about disasters to nationwide civil-defense chapters and is working on a network of ham radio operators for communication when phone lines are down. Starting Nov. 15, membership will include an online academy that will support the chapters.

So far, there are no chapters in San Diego County, Levitt said.

"Here in Utah, we have almost 410 members in one little branch," he said.

The American Civil Defense Association is an outgrowth of the federal Office of Civil Defense created by President Franklin Roosevelt on May 20, 1941, when fear of a possible sneak attack from the Axis powers during World War II prompted a call for every city to create its own civil-defense plan.

As the Cold War with the Soviet Union heated up, the Office of Civil Defense in 1961 created the community fallout shelter program to protect citizens from radiation caused by nuclear attacks. Part of that protection included air raids and the infamous "duck and cover" drills taught to schoolchildren.

Local governments provided rooms for large-scale shelters in buildings such as schools or city halls, while the federal government provided supplies, including metal barrels of water and boxes of dry crackers.

Members of historical societies in Escondido and Oceanside said they do not remember any community fallout shelters being designated in their cities.

Federal funding for the shelter program was cut in 1962, which Levitt said reflected President Kennedy's belief that the best way to protect Americans from radiation fallout was to strengthen national defense and prevent nuclear attacks from ever occurring.

Not everyone agreed, and the American Civil Defense Association was formed by scientists and other volunteers as a private group to continue the program.

"They said it would be foolish to let this whole concept go, so they promoted construction of fallout shelters throughout the country, thinking there would be broad support," Levitt said. "They were wrong."

The movement to create fallout shelters in schools, apartments and factories withered over the decades, although interest has rekindled sporadically.

"In Ronald Reagan's day, with his aggressive stance with the Russians, 28 percent of Americans supported a national shelter program," Levitt said. "That died out pretty quick."

Since September 2001, however, interest in shelters again has been building, he said. The association says it knows of at least 4,200 private shelters.

Home shelters cost about $57,000 to build and between $8,000 and $15,000 to stock, Levitt said, and the association is promoting tax incentives for people who build them. Such incentives already are offered in Arizona, he said.

Sharon Packer, president of the American Civil Defense Association, also is co-owner of Utah Shelter System, one of five or six such businesses in the nation, and said the new generation of shelters protect more than just radiation fallout.

"Most of our business is on the East Coast, and it's driven by hurricanes," she said about the all-hazard shelters people build today.

Besides protection from natural disasters, shelters can be upgraded for a few hundred dollars more to become nuclear/biological/chemical blast shelters, Packer said. So far everyone who has bought a shelter from Utah Shelter System has opted for the upgrade.

Packer said he began building shelters for neighbors and friends 20 years ago and started building them professionally in 1998.

A national shelter program may seem like a daunting project, but Levitt said many countries already have one in place.

"We believe, like the Russians, Chinese and many Eastern and Western European countries, that having some sort of program would be a positive thing," he said.

In Switzerland, every homeowner is asked to have his own shelter, as are businesses and public facilities, including sports arenas, he said.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at gwarth@nctimes.com or (760) 740-5410.