This content was published on Sep 22, 2008When the Cold War thawed, many of Switzerland's underground military bunkers underwent a radical transformation. Shelter-building reached its peak in the mid-1970s, with between 300,000 and 400,000 places being provided each year. "Neutrality is no guarantee against radioactivity," was one of the slogans of the time. When the systematic construction of fallout shelters began in Switzerland in the second half of the 1960s, it was a reflection of widespread fear of a nuclear strike and the spectre of a Soviet invasion. In Israel, there are shelters for two-thirds of the population, but in many cases these structures are simply concrete shells with openings, therefore not completely fallout-proof. Outside Europe, fallout shelters are common in China, South Korea, Singapore, India and elsewhere, but nowhere does coverage exceed 50 per cent. In Germany, the national level of coverage is a mere three per cent. In Austria, for example, coverage is 30 per cent, but most of the shelters do not have a ventilation system. The situation in other European countries does not even compare. But with 7.2 and 3.4 million protected places respectively (representing approximately 81 per cent and 70 per cent coverage), they are still far behind. A quick international survey is enough to demonstrate that no other country can rival it. The Swiss are undoubtedly world champions in the construction of shelters. In 2006, there were 300,000 shelters in Swiss dwellings, institutions and hospitals, as well as 5,100 public shelters, providing protection for a total of 8.6 million individuals – a coverage of 114 per cent.
This content was published on Sep 1, 2016What's it like to go inside what was once the biggest civilian bunker in the world? The forgotten underground world of Swiss bunkers But there is a more simple reason: it is a legal requirement.
The Swiss do in fact spend more than almost any other nation (more than 20 per cent of their budget) to insure themselves against everything and everyone. And there is probably some truth in that assessment. These Swiss! Paranoid and obsessed with security, our friend must have thought. Thanks to the thick armoured door and the ventilation system, with anti-gas filter, if the worst came to the worst, the 25 or so tenants of our block could survive even a nuclear strike. Our friend has simply stumbled upon our fallout shelter. He has never been in the basement of a Swiss home.Ĭellar? Well, the room is half full of bottles of wine, old books, a freezer, unwanted clothes. "Why on earth have you got a reinforced steel door in your cellar?" The amazement of a visiting Italian friend is easy to understand.
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