Rosie Garthwaite - How to Avoid Being Killed in a War Zone

When thinking about your exit plan the place you decide to stay is key.

I arrived at our house in Baghdad late one afternoon after a 16-hour drive from Amman. I had been told it was in a leafy Christian suburb, away from the hectic dangers of the capital’s centre. We parked up. I was very excited about being able to pee after so many hours on the road. A white van drove slowly past on my right. On my left a man started running and the van sped up. Inside I could see men in black masks. Shots rang out, the man stopped running and fell to the ground. The van sped away and we ran to see the body of what we were told was the local booze shop owner. It was my first dead body, my first picture on my new camera. A man murdered in broad daylight on my quiet suburban street. We were, in fact, not very far from what became Sadr City – the heartland of the Shia militia run by a man most of the press were calling the ‘renegade cleric’, Moqtada al Sadr. The Mehdi army were our neighbours.

But we stayed in our chosen house, preferring to be amongst people who would protect us and our reputation as a ‘paper of the people’ than be sitting targets in a hotel. That was our decision and we made it work.

Choosing the right place to stay is the key to being able to sleep at night, eat well during the day, and open a window without fear of being burgled. It should be researched and thought about properly before you arrive, and constantly checked thereafter.

Check the location of the buildingand find out what key official buildings are nearby. Does the threat of their being targeted outweigh the usefulness of their proximity?

What kind of security is there at night?Outside lighting is a minimum, CCTV is good, but guards and a checkpoint are even better.

Who else is staying in the building?There are no hard and fast rules about who the ideal occupants are. If there is no one at breakfast and lots of shady-looking businessmen making deals at night, you probably want to avoid it. If it is a well-known hang-out for one side or another during a war, and therefore a potential target, you should probably avoid it. Strange as it sounds, I was once told that any hotel where prostitutes feel safe to hang out is often a safe one…for women at least.

Where are the nearest police station and hospital?You need to know how to get to both these places, so find out where they are and drive the route. Being close to a police station is almost always a good idea – unless the police are part of the problem.

Ask about the local area.Find out if it is known for being safe. If it isn’t, find out what the locals do to avoid trouble. It might mean not travelling at night or knowing which streets to avoid on your morning jog.

Check room security.The locks on the doors and windows need to be secure.

Avoid having a room on the ground floor – it is the most easily burgled. And avoid any rooms with balconies that can be reached from the ground.

Never let anyone know where your room is.If you’re staying in a hotel, meet visitors in the lobby. Tell the desk that you are staying in a different room – the one where your security man is staying.

Choose a room for its proximity to an emergency exit.How close is the fire escape? Check the route for padlocks and work out a way to avoid them.

For the sake of your sanity there are several things you can do to improve your day-to-day life…

Nick Toksvig says, ‘It’s a good idea to hire extra rooms for offices and equipment. Otherwise some poor person’s room will become the de facto office till the wee hours of the morning, everyone smoking and drinking.’

Mary O’Shea and I originally met on a sweaty floor mat under a tent near Timbuktu, both of us doubled over with food poisoning, but that’s another story. She now works as an election observer, moving hotel every two months all year round. When choosing a room, she recommends: ‘Never higher than the third floor. Soviet-manufactured fire engines in developing countries do not reach higher than this. Never ever stay in a room with bars on the window (tricky in south Asia). Avoid any room with windows facing onto the street or the hotel entrance. I was once advised never to get into a lift with anyone else. This is nearly impossible, however. Ideally, stay on the outskirts of a town so that you are not trapped if there are street protests.’

My personal phobia in hotel rooms is cockroaches. I once found five on my bed in a shockingly bad hotel in southern Nepal. The whole town was on an electricity blackout, and as I crunched across the floor in flip-flops, my head-torch flicked down from my crawling bed to the shiny, wriggling black carpet around my feet. I hadn’t slept for a couple of days, so I took two sarongs from my bag, swept the roaches off my pillow and made myself a stripy head-to-toe shroud to keep ’em out till morning. Next time my grumpy correspondent recommended a hotel, I pretended I couldn’t hear him. Sarongs are a key piece of kit.

In her years spent filming dodgy and dangerous diseases in the outback of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Filipino slums and all sorts of other glamorous locations, Laura McNaught has picked up some key things to avoid. ‘Make sure you get a room that is away from the entrance, the restaurant, the bar, the pool, the barking dogs, the Chinese take-away, the nightclub next door… Alternatively, bring earplugs.’

Other great tips from Laura include: ‘Bring a T-shirt that can double up as a second, protective pillowcase. Bring a silk sleeping bag and never sleep naked, no matter how hot it is.’ She also notes: ‘A mini bottle of Cif goes further than alcohol handwash when you’re cleaning the doorknobs, light switches and phone.’ It’s wise to do this if you’re in an area where sickness is spreading as the cleaners rarely remember to do it.

My colleague and friend Jane Dutton is a genius of security tricks designed to thwart thieving fingers. Brought up in Johannesburg and weaned as CNN’s ‘Hotspots’ girl, parachuting into 35 countries a year, she can spot potential hazards a mile off. She has even persuaded me to travel with a suitcase that padlocks shut these days. When it comes to hotel rooms these are her tips:

‘Before you leave the room always check that your windows are locked, and double-lock the door on the way out. If there is no safe, hide valuable or important things around the room in the least obvious places. Put them in your shoes, in your pants, in your dirty washing. Zip and lock your bag with your stuff still inside to act as a temporary safe.’

In some places you will have little choice about where you can stay. Even if you are not in a war zone, it can still feel like one if there is a high enough crime rate. In those cases, you must take every precaution to make your house secure. Change your locks and take advice from neighbours. Don’t use the first security firm that knocks on your door.

Nick Toksvig points out that there are many times when it is a good idea to have a different ‘safe house’ to return to in case something goes wrong. ‘Covering the volcano eruption on the island of Montserrat, I rented two houses, with the second closer to the “safe” zone. It meant we could move our operation quickly if things got out of control close to the mountain. Another time, during Israel’s war on Lebanon in 2006, we had local hotel accommodation, but also a safe house down by the harbour in case things got heavy and the Israelis invaded.’

I always carry a simple little wooden wedge. Just slide it under the door as an additional lock: the harder the door is forced, the more it jams. And remember, your ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign is a simple deterrent. I’d much rather a grubby room than some cleaner snooping around my belongings.