Bomb-shelter styles are as varied as the paths to annihilation.

According to industry analysts, the bomb shelter business is in a state of hyperbolic growth with customers waiting months or even years for installation of their new underground digs.

The increase in business comes from recent developments including but not limited to Kim Jonh-Un’s erratic nuclear threats towards western powers, Iranian tensions and the possibility of a global economic collapse.

Fortunately for the bomb-shelter industry, times have never been so good and because of that they have a backlog and their employees have unprecedented job security.

According to industry experts, bomb-shelter tech has changed little in the five decades since World War II. Today's fallout-shelter offerings show that the industry standard is a far cry from the cheap-and-quick backyard bunker.

It's just past midnight when a crazed agent of doom steps onto your lawn, pulls out his assault rifle and opens fire in the direction of your master bedroom. Fortunately, you spent $200 per square foot to have Brian Camden and the folks at Hardened Structures install a ballistic "Level 8" hardened exterior, capable of resisting a barrage of automatic weapon fire. "If someone stood in front of my house with an AK-47," Camden says, "you don't have any bullets coming in."

But the assault isn't over. The attacker starts hurling grenades at your house. To the bunker! As you descend into your fortified underground complex, explosions rip through the home. But you went all out, spending $600 per square foot to have your concrete cocoon built immediately. (Camden: "They have to have it now. They feel the threat event is imminent.") Also, you sprang for the concrete blast doors, so you're safe. Even if things get much worse, Hardened Structures bases the strength of all its bunker designs on a 10-kiloton improvised nuclear device.

Is a hardened structure not enough to protect your family? How about a converted missile silo?

After the Cold War ended the need for missile silos was drastically decreased and therefore there were some real bargains to be had if you were in the market for one and 10 acres of land to go with it.

Made to withstand the worst attack the Kremlin could hurl in this direction, the typical decommissioned silos and communication stations make for a relatively easily retrofitted underground refuge. The hole is already dug, and the superstructure is already built. All one needs to do is drop "a couple hundred thousand, depending on your needs," according to Camden, for upgrades to electrical systems, ventilation and filtration equipment.

Need something a little more comfortable, the Japanese are buying up luxury bunkers at a rapid pace!

Due to North Korea’s recent missile launch, demand has been sent surging and pushing many Japanese customers into the hands of the bomb shelter industry.

“Japan’s going hog wild right now,” said Ron Hubbard, owner of Atlas Survival. The Montebello, California-based company makes about a dozen different underground refuge models intended to be inhabitable for six months to a year, some outfitted with escape tunnels, decontamination rooms and bulletproof hatches.

While the Japanese have viewed North Korea as a menace for decades, the rogue regime’s July 4 launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile raised the level of alarm among preppers, as some people serious about emergency preparedness call themselves. Japan has its own small bunker-making sector, but the U.S., unique in its abundance of survivalist networks, is ground zero for get-ready-for-Armageddon businesses.

“People are genuinely afraid,” said Seiichiro Nishimoto, president of Shelter Co., an Osaka-based installer of air-conditioned nuclear shelters imported from Israel. “That’s why we’re getting so many calls.”
These bomb shelters are a great place to wait out the end of days in comfort and style…

Advertised features include nuclear-biological-chemical air-filtration systems, space to store enough food and toilet paper for a year, a diesel generator, an emergency exit shaft and, importantly, the ability to take a 500,000-pound blast without crumpling.

Final Thoughts

The time for constructing your own bomb shelter may have arrived. If you’ve reached this conclusion I’m sure you’ve already created other contingency plans, packed bug-out bags and stocked up on survival provisions for yourself and your family.

This article wasn’t written in an attempt to scare people but rather to get people thinking about their own life and preparedness a bit more.

The technology of survival has improved a lot over the past century but I firmly believe that your best friend in terms of survival is knowledge.

This knowledge goes hand in hand with technology. Can you make a fire? Can you make potable water? How would you keep your possessions dry if your life depended on it. Do you have knowledge of basic medicine and hygiene?

If the answer to all of these questions is yes then maybe you don’t need a bomb shelter after all…. But it couldn’t hurt if you had the money to blow right?

This was a fun article to write and I’d love to get a discussion going, please leave your thoughts, feedback and comments below.

Thanks for reading!

Sources:

Japan’s Doomsday Preppers Are Buying $19,000 Bomb Shelters - Bloomberg

6 Safe, Strong—and Chic—Bomb Shelters You Can Buy Now – Popular Mechanics