What official rules apply to shelters in Mexico?

Short answer. Mexico has no technical standard for blast or fallout shelters. The official rules cover temporary refuges (refugios temporales), the buildings civil protection opens for people evacuated before or during a hurricane, flood or other emergency ¹. Federal law defines them, its regulation limits their use, and the official standard NOM-003 sets the sign that marks them ¹²³.

What does the law call a refuge?

The General Civil Protection Law (Ley General de Protección Civil) defines two kinds of facility ¹:

A refuge is therefore a place to wait out a threat. It is not a protective structure built to resist a blast or fallout.

Who opens refuges?

State, municipal and Mexico City borough civil protection units may order the precautionary movement of the population and its installation and care in temporary refuges, as a security measure ¹. Community brigade volunteers help the authorities run refuges ¹. The regulation forbids refuges from acting as collection centres for donations; any donation received must go to the nearest collection centre ².

How is a refuge marked?

NOM-003 sets the signs used for civil protection everywhere in Mexico, in public, social and private buildings that must have civil protection signage ³. The sign for the location of a temporary refuge is a green square or rectangle with white human silhouettes sheltering in a building; the words "REFUGIO TEMPORAL" are optional ³. The standard has been renamed NOM-003-SSPC-2011 and is listed as in force ⁴. The federal civil protection authority oversees compliance ³.

Does Mexico City have its own rule?

Yes, for refuges run by the city government. Technical norm NT-SGIRPC-RTA-010-2025, published in the city's Official Gazette on 6 August 2025, sets minimum criteria for planning, opening, running and closing refuges and albergues ⁶. It applies in Mexico City only. Borough civil protection units census and register candidate public buildings, such as sports facilities, halls and gyms, and check in the city risk atlas that the site is at low risk for its hazard ⁶. Schools, active hospitals and health centres, police stations and sites storing hazardous chemicals cannot be refuges ⁶. A refuge opens when an emergency or imminent risk could affect more than 50 people, after an inspection on a set form, and the city civil protection ministry supervises compliance ⁶.

How do I find my refuge?

CENAPRED explains how to switch on the temporary refuges layer of the National Risk Atlas (Atlas Nacional de Riesgos) and zoom to your area ⁵. States also publish their own refuge catalogues. See public shelters in Mexico.

Do these rules apply to a home shelter?

No. None of these texts regulate private shelters ¹. Any underground structure falls under ordinary state and municipal building rules and needs a qualified engineer. Phaenyx gives no construction instructions. See building a shelter in Mexico.

Frequently asked questions

Is a refugio temporal safe from a nuclear blast?

Nothing in the law says so. It is defined as a place of temporary protection and welfare, not a blast shelter ¹.

What does the refuge sign look like?

A green square or rectangle with white silhouettes of people sheltering in a building ³.

Where can I read the texts?

The law and its regulation are on the Chamber of Deputies site ¹²; NOM-003 is on the Ministry of Economy's standards platform ³⁴; the Mexico City norm is in its Official Gazette ⁶.