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

Folks, if you want to read this article, which you should, you must follow the link, I am not going to tie up database storage space which is available online for free.
Very good article.


http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... 25649.html

Dirty bombs, stray missiles, flus named after animals—it seems the world's threats loom large enough nowadays that anyone who isn't paranoid should pay more attention. Fortunately, bomb-shelter styles are as varied as the paths to annihilation. Ranging in sophistication from down-and-dirty underground dens to opulent, impenetrable palaces, here are six of PM's favorite shrines to self-preservation.
By Joe P. Hasler
The bomb shelter business is booming. At least that's the consensus of the men and women who design, construct and install underground sanctuaries. They attribute the growth in business to Kim Jong Il's erratic missile lobbing, the intransigent Iranian clerics hell-bent on getting nuclear weaponry, the impending total collapse of the global financial system, and the end of the world in 2012, as predicted by the Mayan Calendar.

"For whatever reason—and we're not totally sure ourselves—but business is incredible," Brian V. Camden, an engineer at high-end shelter builder Hardened Stuctures, says. "Twenty-twelve, the financial collapse: I just had to hire a new architect Tuesday. Right now we're doing a lot in Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania. All through Appalachia, it's people who share a similar mind-set."

"We get do a lot in Texas, and a lot in New York too," says Sharon Packer, of Utah Shelter Systems, "because they've already had an event. We're having considerably more activity in the last six months. As one of those businesses that thrive on bad news—and the newspapers are full of real threats right now. People are becoming more savvy to those."

American preparedness and paranoia in the form of the bomb shelter dates back to the earliest days of the Cold War. A 1951 article from Popular Mechanics titled, "If the A-bombs Burst," detailed crucial steps for surviving the opening salvo of World War III, complete with a list of how to stock a shelter. The subsequent decade saw more of the same in PM's pages, with stories such as "Backyard Bomb Shelter," "Atomic Hideouts," and "You Can Build a Low-Cost Shelter Quickly."

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. Today, they're bigger, stronger and setting one off is guaranteed to leave a crater in your checking account. Here are six we'd like to hole up in until the fallout settles.
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