A business reborn: anti-atomic bunkers for the whole family

The construction of small anti-atomic bunkers is a business that has been revitalized by the latest natural disasters and by the predictions of scientists. In the US, the interest for such constructions is on the rise, reaching levels similar to those of the 50s, but there are a lot of orders for such constructions in Europe as well.

The internal note recently published by the NASA did nothing but exacerbate the population"s fears. The manager of the American agency is advising its employees to prepare their relatives for a natural disaster. The message was posted on the official website of the NASA, together with the instructions on how to devise a rescue plan in the event of a catastrophe. There are precise instructions: the car"s fuel tank should always be full, the portable emergency kit should contain blankets, flashlights and lighters, drinkable water reserves and food that can be easily cooked. The management of the NASA justified this action, which could create panic in the short term, through the fact that in May it held an emergency drill which showed that the agency was not ready for major disasters.

The builders that specialized in underground shelters, which are improved versions of the anti-atomic bunkers which were being built 50 years ago, have plenty of reasons to rub their hands, a it seems apocalyptic scenarios spring up every month, with the following being the most notorious: the Mayan calendar and the end of the world in 2012, the collision with an asteroid, a devastating earthquake, serial hurricanes, catastrophic floods. Thousands of people have bought underground shelters, the price of which varies based on their features. Prices start at 25,000 dollars and can go as high as a few million. The autonomy of the shelter also varies depending on the price paid, from a few days of isolation to months, even years. The latter shelters are prepared for any type of catastrophe, they can withstand powerful shocks, extremely high exterior temperatures, they can float and are equipped with air purification systems.

Aside from the "family bunkers, designed to house 5-10 people, there are also shelters designed on a large scale. A Russian portal, ural.ru, disclosed a piece of information which has been circulating as a rumor over the last years: the government of Moscow may have a bunker city, which could be able to host as many as 300,000 people in the case of nuclear events or natural disaster getting out of control. That location allows survival under conditions of total isolation for about 6 months. The base is positioned somewhere in the Southern Urals, in near the "Abzakovo" resort, where PM Vladimir Putin spends his winter holidays. The huge construction was supposedly begun when Brezhnev was the president of the USSR and was recently re-equipped with the latest technologies. Also in Russia, in secret locations, there businesspeople building bunker neighborhoods available to those who paid in advance capable of hosting hundreds of people, available to those who paid in advance and who are registered in a database. There are also people who are concerned about the aftermath of the apocalypse. In the Svalbard archipelago, near the North Pole, Norway, with the help of the European Union, have created a seed bank which will allow repopulation with the main breeds of plants in the event of a disaster, which has been designed to withstand earthquakes and nuclear accidents. A report published this week by Japanese experts could make those bought this kind of shelters be glad they did. Earthquakes of large magnitude, similar to that which hit Japan on March 11th, could occur at various locations in the world, even though there are no precedents of the kind, the report warns.