The Mind of James Donahue Modern Bomb Shelters |
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“Panic Rooms”
A Sign Of The Times By James Donahue August 2005 People in and around
The concept, a remnant
perhaps of the old bomb shelters constructed in the early days of the Cold War, is offered by Coastal Construction Group,
and if you can afford it, offers a comfortable home under the home where life can continue on under the worst of conditions,
provided they don’t last too long. The safe rooms that range
anywhere from $25,000 to $500,000, give a homeowner from a bare-bones room built of concrete and steel walls with bulletproof
and fire-resistant panels to finished spacious quarters complete with closed-circuit televisions, Internet connection, generators
and toilets. Angela Nystrom, founder
of Survivor Depot, offers a more simplified version of protection, mostly designed to keep the homeowner safe in the event
of a biological or chemical attack, or a killer pandemic. Nystrom believes the
old Homeland Security plan to seal windows and doors with duct tape wasn’t going to work. So she designed the Noah’s
Ark Rainbow 36A, an inflatable room that fits within any room of a home where people can exist in a toxic-free environment
for several days. The seal inflates in
minutes and keeps its occupants safe as long as they can stay within the sealed room. Of course once the food, water and other
services that take care of human biological needs gets used up, including the oxygen, the seal must be broken. But you get
a few precious hours or even days of protection at a modest cost of $3,100. Back in the 1950s, after
But the fear was real
so people all over the Many sturdy public buildings
also were designated as fallout shelters in those years. They were marked by signs that designated them as a shelter in the
event of an attack. The shelters were usually located in the basement or some other well protected area that was estimated
to be sturdy enough to withstand the force of an atomic blast from a certain distance. I also remember that
schools held drills in those years, teaching children how to lie on the floor under their desks with their hands over their
heads if there was a bright flash from a nearby atomic explosion. The idea was to protect the children from flying glass and
debris by the time the force of the blast reached the building. Fortunately, the cold
war remained exactly that. While we came close at times, there never was a nuclear war between But knowledge of how
to make nuclear weapons has spread now. Many other nations of the world have this terrible weapon, including What is worse, there
is a new element in the mix now that did not exist back in the Cold War years. There is a growing threat of world terrorism
as Moslems and Christians rebuild old tensions that once led to open warfare throughout Europe and the We are living in extremely
dangerous times because the world is overpopulated, polluted and on the edge of a war that could lead to a quick extinction
of all life on the planet. It is small wonder that
“panic rooms” are in vogue in While they might offer
the homeowner a small sense of extra security, such panic rooms will do nothing to save us in the long run. The plagues, the
wars and the loss of food and water lying in our future will not be something that goes away in a day or two. Eventually the
people hiding in their panic rooms will have to come out. That is when reality
will get them. They will just be putting off the inevitable for a few days longer. |
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