Reporters on the Job

• Duck and Cover: Staff writer Ilene Prusher says that many of her colleagues and the residents in northern Israel are becoming inured to the warning sirens and the explosions as rockets land nearby. "But I still find it unsettling, and it's hard to ignore the rumbling of floors and windows," she notes.

During an Israeli military briefing she learned that every building built after 1980 is supposed to have a reinforced stairwell. "If you can't get to a bomb shelter, then you're supposed to duck into a stairwell and wait out the attack there," Ilene says.

"That's what I did Thursday when the sirens started just after breakfast. We waited a few minutes in a stairwell and then went back to work. Afterwards, I asked the hotel owner what year the building was built. His answer: 1911. From now on, I'll be staying in hotels built after 1980, or I'll check to see if it has a shelter before checking in," she says.

– David Clark Scott

World editor