If you are considering building an underground bomb shelter, you’ve likely spent quite a bit of time educating yourself on the likelihood of a nuclear attack and how you can best prepare and react. But in our changing world, terrorism and warfare are not the only threats for which an underground shelter may be your surest means of survival. What if it isn’t terrorists, but rather Mother Nature who tries to do you in?
A blast shelter should be built to withstand the strength of a nuclear blast wave (sometimes also called a shock wave) – that is, the layer of highly compressed air that travels outward from the explosion, causing damage as it goes. The speed of a blast wave, depending on the location of the explosion, can approach the speed of sound (767 mph). Considering the fact that the wind speed of the strongest hurricanes on record only barely hovered around 200 mph, a well-designed blast shelter that is intended to protect against the blast wave will also make an excellent shelter against powerful inclement weather.
Natural Disasters on the Rise?
According to the EM-DAT (emergency disaster database), hydro-meteorological disasters that are affected by the climate (hurricanes, thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, blizzards, etc.) have been steadily increasing since the 1970s. While some of the increase is artificial, due to better reporting and data keeping, much of the increase is genuine and reflects the ways that we as humans are affected by a changing climate.
In addition to changes in our climate, humans continue to rapidly urbanize areas of the planet that are already prone to natural disasters, such as flood-prone regions. A lack of adequate planning nearly guarantees that areas such as these will see frequent damage to homes and property. Naturally-occurring events such as earthquakes and typhoons become disasters only when they cause damage to human lives and property, and we can expect to see an increase in this as the world population rises.
What Can You Do?
Your first step is to equip your home with an underground shelter. Ensuring that it can withstand a blast wave also ensures that it can withstand a great many intense natural disasters as well. Stock your shelter with a minimum of 2 weeks’ worth of supplies that will aid you whether the disaster is natural or man-made: first aid supplies, non-perishable food, fresh water, and a means of waste disposal. With adequate planning, you won’t be left scrambling even if the worst case scenario turns out to be much different than you expected.