Supporters of the ordinance feel bunkers act as 'security
blankets', whilst critics worry bunkers hide criminal activity and limit EMS
response capability. Doomsday bunkers for sale now booming industry. See video at the end of this article.
[Left] Bunkers, like the one seen in this file photo, may soon be
common in Menifee, California. The City Council has passed an ordinance that allows
residents to build doomsday bunkers on their properties.
In the backyard of his remote Southern California home,
Bernie Jones is etching an unconventional blueprint: a construction plan to
build his underground survival shelter. It won't be the typical, cramped Cold
War-era bunker. It will hold 20 people.
Part of a small but vocal group of survivalists in Menifee,
some 80 miles east of Los Angeles, Jones, 46, has pushed for the right to build
a bunker on his 1-acre property for nearly a year. He wants to be ready for
anything, be it natural disaster or a nuclear attack.
'The world is taking a change,' he says. 'I want to be
prepared. I want my family to survive.'
Residents of the small city once known for its farming and
mining can begin applying for permits to build their subterranean housing this
month after the City Council passed a hotly contested ordinance allowing the
practice.
Americans have been building underground bunkers for
decades, their interest in such shelters waxing and waning with current events.
Many dug backyard fallout shelters during the Cold War, fearing a nuclear war.
This next generation of bunkers comes as many survivalists
face heightened concerns of a terrorist attack, economic meltdown and for some,
even solar flares or meteor showers.
[Left] Fun for the whole family? Menifee residents are now allowed
to build doomsday bunkers on their properties, but critics say the bunkers can
be used to hide criminal activity.
'The bunker is a type of security blanket,' says Stephen
O'Leary, an expert in apocalyptic and end-of-the-world theories at the
University of Southern California. 'They are concerned with what's happening in
the world on a massive scale.'
The move to allow below-ground bunkers has created waves
among city officials who are concerned with earthquake faults in the area,
safety of police and first responders answering emergency calls and the potential
for owners to hide criminal activity, such as drug manufacturing.
'Most people are going to use their bunkers for good reason,
but you do have some sick people out there,' Deputy Mayor Wallace Edgerton
says. 'Children have been held in bunkers.'
In February, a 5-year-old boy was held hostage for six days
in an Alabama underground bunker, which was rigged with explosive devices.
City Councilman Tom Fuhrman calls the ordinance a victory
for property rights, not for those looking to break the law.'"Criminal
activity isn't going to be stopped by not allowing people to build bunkers,'
Fuhrman says. 'A criminal will find a place to commit crime.'
[Left] Many bunkers are oddly shaped, like the one seen here in
this file photo made by Atlas Survival Shelters.
There are signs survival bunkers are making a comeback
throughout the country.
Ronald Hubbard, who runs Atlas Survival Shelters near Los
Angeles, ships his luxury bunkers out of state. Unlike Cold War-era shelters,
he builds ones that are half the length of a basketball court and have a master
bedroom, dining nook and a couch to watch a 47-inch flat screen TV.
Hubbard says his phones rang nonstop last December as people attempted to prepare for the end of the world that never came. A 5,125-year cycle in the Mayan calendar passed by, sans disaster.
Hubbard says his phones rang nonstop last December as people attempted to prepare for the end of the world that never came. A 5,125-year cycle in the Mayan calendar passed by, sans disaster.
The Perseid meteors soaring through the sky last month had
customers calling him constantly, looking for a way to stay safe in case one
hit Earth - even though it's an annual celestial event. He insists his
customers are practical people - not radical doomsday preppers.
'I'm not fear mongering,' Hubbard said, standing beside a
$65,000 shelter in his warehouse. 'Why do we buy insurance? Just in case.'
[Left] Atlas Survival Shelters owner Ron Hubbard, shows a shelter
made of galvanized corrugated pipe at his plant in Montebello, California in
this file photo.
The Vivos shelter networks in Indiana and Kansas offer the
equivalent of doomsday timeshares in underground communities in the event of
the apocalypse. The network aims to protect its inhabitants for up to a year
from myriad catastrophes, including a nuclear disaster.
Preppers - who dedicate their time to ensuring they are ready for a host of deadly scenarios - even have their own reality TV show.
Preppers - who dedicate their time to ensuring they are ready for a host of deadly scenarios - even have their own reality TV show.
People should spend time preparing for likely disasters
instead of Armageddon, said Steve Davis, president of emergency management
company All Hands Consulting.
'In California, you have earthquakes. On the East Coast, you
have winter storms,' Davis says. 'People should be focusing on basic
preparedness.'
[Left] An Atlas Survival Shelters employee helps build a doomsday
bunker in this file photo. Residents of Menifee, California are now allowed to
have structures like this one on their properties.
Jones, who has six children and seven grandchildren, says he
simply wants to protect his loved ones. The contractor has already stocked his
home with medical kits and enough food for his family to survive for about
three months should a disaster strike.
He keeps a bag in his truck packed with five days' worth of
food and water, a raincoat, a thermal and 'the world's smallest sleeping bag.'
'It's all part of being ready for whatever happens,' Jones
says.
(Source)
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For related article of interest, please click here.
-----------------------------------------------
OFFICIAL LINKS
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Movement Central Group (N-AM)
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Earth & Animal Activism Network
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Permaculture Information Network
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Survivalist and Preparedness Circle
* Facebook: National-AnarchistFrance
* Facebook: National-Anarchist Spanish Speaking Resistance
* Contacts: N-AM Links