No, a bunker will not save you from the Apocalypse

IO9 ^ | June 15, 2012 | Keith Veronese

[DogByte6RER]

No, a bunker will not save you from the apocalypse

Everybody talks about the apocalypse, but almost nobody actually prepares for it. But let's say you're one of the few visionaries who actually plans for every eventuality. You've been stashing your supplies. You've built a personal bunker, or you've purchased your own spot in a communal "survival suite."

When the apocalypse finally comes — possibly later this year — will you really survive if you're locked inside a bunker? (Answer: No.)

Protecting against any 2012 scenario A thriving industry exists to offer structures that will defend against a variety of 2012-related events. These scenarios include pole shifts (and the earthquakes that would follow), electromagnetic pulses, and solar flares — along with more traditional scenarios, such as biological and nuclear attacks.

One of the most successful manufacturer of disaster bunkers, Hardened Manufacturers, speaks of the Maya Calendar as a reason why they've created their structures:

From our perspective as architects, engineers, physicists, future-scanning analyst and construction program managers, we view the 2012 phenomenon not as a question of the accuracy or validity of the Mayan date, but as a problem of shelter design optimization under severe constraints. In this perspective, we look at the anticipated possible effects and the design measures necessary to mitigate those effects.

Hardened and other survivor bunker building companies like Vivos and Survival Condo say you should have multiple backups of critical life support systems, air filtration, installation of an air-lock, and multiple escape hatches, to increase your chances of surviving a 2012-related event. These structures are not cheap — estimates from several survival shelter companies place a spot in these bunkers from $40,000 to $1 million. The companies also market their structures as "vacation homes" or unique corporate retreats, should a 2012 disaster scenario never arise.

You cannot plan for everything

There are some events that simply cannot be planned for, let alone imagined, among the multiplicity of possible 2012 disaster scenarios. A pole shift, and the ensuing tectonic movement, could lead to a chain of volcanic eruptions. The Yellowstone Caldera in the mid-western United States is long overdue for an eruption, with the U.S. Geological Survey closely monitoring seismic activity at Yellowstone National Park.

These fortified shelters will also have difficulty defending against strikes from above, as they are only prepared for a 500 pound (roughly the size of a small boulder) airborne impacts. Hardened Structures claim their bunkers will provide protection from the air burst resulting from a 100 megaton bomb detonated 20 miles away — but a ground impact in the same 20-mile radius would likely destroy the shelter, and render the surroundings uninhabitable.

The biggest threat?

"Hell is other people." - Translation of a line from Jean-Paul Sartre's Huis-clos

Many apocalyptic scenarios call for extended periods of isolation. With bunkers designed to supply and care for up to 1000 people, would you really want to spend a year or more of your life trapped underground in an isolated community, cut off from whatever remains of the human race outside?

What about the unforeseen psychiatric issues that would arise in the aftermath of the apocalypse, as people realize their extended family and friends are dead? Such an event would be akin to a bizarre psychological experiment. It's easy to imagine how the survival prospects of extremely bored people lacking distinct social ties could drop, the longer they're kept in a confined space together.

And then there would be the threat of other survivors — once all the local Wal-Mart, Target, and sporting goods stories have long since been picked clean, the roaming scavengers would regard any remaining shelters as a major jackpot.

Anyone searching through rural areas of Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Utah, and Texas (areas with a high proportion of these bunkers) could simply canvass the area with a metal detector, since these bunkers include EMP shielding, which requires a metal lattice. Construction contractors that worked on the bunkers, regardless of the confidentiality standards held during the building process, will also know the specific location of bunkers in the area. So the people inside the bunkers could easily become sitting ducks, waiting for a series of assaults from other survivors.

Lottery ticket

If you lack the desire or finances to build a structure for yourself, Surefire Living offers a program for qualified individuals who want to live to see 2013. Surefire Living is creating 10 survival sites scattered across the globe, providing a financially friendly option for those who cannot pay for an entire bunker with personal finances. Inhabitants are chosen based on their education and usefulness.

Surefire Living also offers a Lottery of Fate option. Write an essay, pay an $80 entry fee — and if you're chosen, you win a vacation in one of their facilities. You are not guaranteed you'll have a spot should the apocalypse arrive, but you do get a free concealed carry gun permit course, along with the chance to write an essay for eighty bucks.

Surviving the unforeseen

It's extremely difficult to imagine every possible disaster scenario, and prepare for all of them. Not to mention all the changes that every scenario would wreak on the world afterwards. And then there's the more basic question: if society as we know it stops and your family and friends are dead, do you want to go on living? And if you survive these initial events, will you live though the madness and chaos that will come along with the long struggle to restart society?

Luckily, Hardened Structures also offers a line of armored vehicles protecting against ballistic impacts, hurricanes, and EMPs. So if we find ourselves in a Mad Max-style future, you can roll out of your bunker fully prepared. Give me an armored car and a nice underground reserve of fuel. That, or a stocked submarine with its own nuclear power supply — but if anybody's selling nuclear submarines to private individuals, they haven't put up a website.

[Errant]

Survive we will.

[Vince Ferrer]

would you really want to spend a year or more of your life trapped underground in an isolated community, cut off from whatever remains of the human race outside?

Heck, I could do that now. This guy singlehandedly makes me want to survive any apocalypse just to poke him in the eye.

Nothing but flowers

[Average Al]

That was a good movie. I’m surprised they don’t show it more often.

[patriot08]

I love the actors in it.
Walken, Spacek and Fraser were hilarious.

[Errant]

would you really want to spend a year or more of your life trapped underground in an isolated community, cut off from whatever remains of the human race outside?

People have and for much longer.

[Nowhere Man]

I loved that movie. I remember his dad set up a projector with old TV shows where they watched “I Love Lucy” and others. BTW, being an amateur history buff, if I saw the “Ipana” toothpaste, that would be a dead clue to me too.

[driftdiver]

Maybe, then again maybe not.

Sure would be nice to have options.

[Fido969]

"The lord may be smilin' on the sheeps, but they still wind up as lamb chops."

[Travis McGee]

The Escape Pod.

[AlexW]

“That is why you need a bug out house”
___________________________________________

Yes, if you live in a big city, especially one like Memphis, which has high minority population, a house in the mountains of middle or east Tennessee would be nice, provided you can escape in time, and get to it, but that is a big if, especially if you live in a city like Chicago or Detroit.

As for myself, I have already bugged out and live on the other side of the world.
Third world life has one big advantage in that everyone already lives a subsistence life. In other words, one can live on almost nothing, and will never be cold.
While I live on a beach, I can be on a 3000 foot mountain
in a matter of minutes, and there is no shortage of fruits, vegies, fish, and meat.

By the way....What kind of toilet do you have that requires electricity?????

[Nowhere Man]

Another movie of a related type was Goliath Awaits made in 1981. It was about a British ship torpedoed by the Germans in 1939 and sunk. The ship remained airtight so the people kept on living in their own society until they were discovered in the early 1980's. Not exactly a post-apocalyptic genre but it is sort of related to our discussion.

[patriot08]

Yeah. LOL

[PowderMonkey]

One of my favorite lines from “Gladiator”: “Stick together! If we stick together, we will survive!” That's the key. The “lone wolf” survivor alone in his bunker or distant isolated redoubt will inevitably be outnumbered, overrun and defeated by marauding bands. The European landscape is littered with the remnants of broken castles and shattered defenses, going back for centuries. Defense and isolationism is not a winning strategy. Form communities of like minded people. Share skill sets. Form alliances. Establish craftmens guilds. That's how you survive.

[JoeProBono]

[ScottfromNJ]

I think the idea is to have long term food supplies stored in the bunker.

[Average Al]

I caught it channel surfing a few years ago. I thought it was a pretty creative story line.

[Radagast the Fool]

Heinlein’s “Farnham’s Freehold” just might be the ultimate bug-out book..and it’s also a laugh-riot. Highly recommended!!

[bgill]

It's extremely difficult to imagine every possible disaster scenario, and prepare for all of them

But I can prepare for some. I may not need them, but I have insurance and carry a spare tire.

Agreed, that Twilight episode was great.

[wally_bert]

I remember that movie and liked it even though I was around 11 at the time.

[stpio]

It will be God, we just have to have faith.

Prophesied now and you see from the past.

~ ~ ~

January 13, 2004
Jesus said: “My people, crime levels in your cities are
rising again mostly because of drug trafficking. As people are
making less on lower paying jobs, personal budgets are becoming
strained for the bare necessities. Others, that are getting
assistance, are finding it harder to get funding as governments
are cutting back on health care and rent subsidies. As people
find it hard to survive, they resort to stealing for food and
even fuel to keep warm. As the one world people come closer to
controlling buying and selling by chips in smart cards and in
the body, there is another threat to My faithful to be outlaws
for not taking these chips, nor going along with the one world
order. My remnant will be suffering persecution when they try
to force chips in the body on everyone. Rely on what you have
set aside for a while. Then you will have to go to My refuges
for safety from being imprisoned in detention centers for your
faith. The one world people will say you are violating their
laws because you are storing food and avoiding chips. Fear not
these evil ones and trust and hope only in what I will provide
for you.”

When you see these thing happen, In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ, call on your guardian angel to guide you and your family to the nearest refuge. Some of them will be caves. All in God’s Will, there will be martyrs for the faith.

Thursday, May 3, 2012: (Sts. Philip & James)
Jesus said: “My people, at times you receive CRITICISM for talking about refuges where some say they are not in the Bible. At this point in time in non-communist countries you are not openly persecuted to the point of martyrdom for your faith. Yet in the Early Church, Christians were being martyred, so that they practiced their faith secretly in the catacombs. Even the prophets were threatened with death because the people did not want to hear the prophet’s words of repentance for their sins. As a result Elijah hid in a cave at Mt. Carmel in Haifa, Israel to avoid being killed. As in this vision, I even told you that where necessary, My angels would carve out caves for your safe havens. I am giving you a message of hope during the tribulation that My angels will protect you at My refuges by making you invisible to your persecutors. You will have to leave your homes, if THEY ARE NOT refuges, so you can be led by your guardian angels to your safe havens. I will provide for your food and shelter, and My angels will defend you from the evil ones.”

http://www.johnleary.com