At the moment, there seem to be very few suitable places for emergencies in Germany. According to the usual BKK, there are currently only 579 public shelters nationwide for 480,000 people. And that’s because, since 2007, the bunker sites have been gradually dismantled
In Germany, concern about how international tensions are evolving is very high. The Federal Office for Civil Protection (BKK) is developing a bunker protection plan for the entire country. What does it consist of? The BKK is examining which public buildings can be converted, if necessary, into shelters for the population. According to German media reports, government buildings and subway stations, among other places, are currently being examined.
There is also talk of developing a special mobile phone application with which citizens will be able to record the distance to the nearest bunker. And it doesn’t end there, because the shadow of Russia has prompted the civil protection body to encourage people to create real shelters in their homes by adapting basements or garages for this purpose.
THE BUNKER PLAN
Bild spoke about the so-called “bunker plan”, giving some interesting details on the matter, without explaining, however, when this plan should be implemented. At the moment, there seem to be very few suitable places for emergencies in Germany. According to the usual BKK, there are currently only 579 public shelters nationwide for 480,000 people. And this is because, since 2007, the bunker sites have been gradually dismantled. There would be another problem related to the lack of bunkers: according to the director of the BKK, Ralph Tiesler, it would take an entire generation to build new public shelters.
It seems that to protect 85 million Germans, 210,100 larger bunkers would have to be built, at a cost of 140.2 billion euros. Meanwhile, in the summer, Der Spiegel magazine wrote that large public shelters for thousands of people “do not represent an adequate measure of protection against modern precision weapons,” which can cause large-scale destruction with only a few minutes’ notice. The greatest danger to the civilian population in the event of an attack would be “flying debris and cuttings or the shock wave of an explosion.” A long-term solution could be to create home-made shelters with entrances, space, ventilation and storage facilities.
THE CASE OF POLAND
Tensions are rising, but not only in Germany. Other European countries are also taking precautions in this direction. Poland is investing the equivalent of almost 28 million euros in the construction of bomb shelters and other safety measures. The facilities will be built over the next two to three years. “On our own initiative, we conducted an inventory of shelter sites,” said Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski.
According to firefighters, less than four percent of the population has shelter. In the Polish capital, underground parking lots and metro stations are among the roughly seven million square meters of space that could serve as shelters. Hospitals are prepared for threats and the population is informed about how to behave in an emergency.
“IRON DOME”
Meanwhile, plans for a European-style “Iron Dome” defense system remain controversial after Germany chose to stick with an Israeli arms manufacturer to build the multi-billion-euro weapon that forms its backbone. Established in earnest in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, the European Sky Shield Initiative has 21 member states, including the UK, the Netherlands, Poland, Greece and Finland, agreeing to cooperate on how defence systems are procured, maintained and deployed to support each other. The weapons will eventually be integrated into a pre-existing NATO mission that “defends Alliance territory… against any air or missile threat or attack,” according to its website.
