North Korea Fear Drives America Back To The Bunkers

Tremors of anxiety are coursing through the U.S. as Americans worry rising tensions between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could lead to a nuclear strike on the U.S. 

Kim has tested more than a dozen missiles this year alone, and has threatened to fire four missiles at Guam, where two large U.S. military bases are located (although he backed away from this threat Wednesday). Trump has countered these threats with warnings of his own, promising “fire and fury” should the North Korean regime attack the U.S. or its allies. 

This back and forth has Americans preparing for the worst. Ron Hubbard is the co-founder and president of Atlas Survival Shelters in Montebello, California, and his business is booming.

“Has demand increased? Absolutely," Hubbard told Bisnow. "Our fallout shelters are about to be a mainstay — as common as pickup trucks in Texas and Mercedes in California.” 

While the general consensus is that a nuclear strike on a U.S. city would be catastrophic both from the blast and subsequent winds and radiation, the fear has triggered more interest in what are perceived as safer spaces, such as 1950s-era bunkers, fallout shelters and the sub-basements of tall buildings. Google searches on how to survive a nuclear attack surged after tensions flared between the U.S. and North Korea earlier this month, particularly after Trump’s “fire and fury” comments, Newsweek reports.

Atlas Survival Shelters has experienced a huge spike in business since U.S.-North Korea tensions flared. Hubbard said this year alone the company has sold more than 1,000 shelters, compared to less than a dozen when the company was founded in 2011. 

“Of course North Korea is driving demand. Donald Trump’s [fire and fury comment] on Aug. 10 will go down as my D-Day," Hubbard said. "That will be the day I look back in my history and realized fallout shelters have come back in style.”

These prefabricated underground shelters are developed at one of two factories in Los Angeles and Dallas, and come fitted with beds, electricity and air conditioning. They are built to accommodate residents from 30 days to a year, depending on the size of the bunker. The units can be built under a garage, buried in the backyard and even under a house, and can fit two to eight people.

“These will protect you from hurricanes, tornadoes and … are airtight with a system that filters out the radiation from the fallout,” Hubbard said. “These did not exist in the 1960s.”

Cold War Fallout Shelters Aren't What They Used To Be

During the Cold War, there were public fallout shelters established in most of the nation’s cities, even small towns. Many of these shelters were in public buildings, schools, churches and private businesses — any enclosed brick or concrete location that could hold dozens of residents. Many were essentially basements stocked with supplies, according to the Chicago Tribune.  

But in the 1980s, the Federal Emergency Management Agency stopped requiring states to keep track of these shelters. As a result, many Cold War-era bunkers and fallout shelters have been closed down and demolished in the interceding years.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the shelters faced the decay of years without upkeep and the pressure to develop those properties. Since many started out as basements, they returned to being places to store things or have even been converted into laundry rooms or fitness centers.

That is not to say fallout shelters have completely vanished. In New York City, remnants of these shelters can be found all over the city, labeled with weathered black and yellow signs that read “Fallout Shelter.” It is unclear how many remain. These shelters were meant to protect residents from the radioactive residue, debris and other vapors that would be in the air following a nuclear explosion. 

Emergency Prep

Hawaii was among the first states to start preparing for a nuclear attack amid growing tensions with North Korea. The state’s Aloha State Emergency Management Agency has been educating residents about what to do, and what not to do, in a nuclear emergency, which include evacuation plans similar to those introduced during the Cold War era, emergency sirens and test drills that take place at schools, the New York Post reports.

New York City and Washington, D.C., authorities have encouraged law enforcement, first responders and other government agencies to run drills in preparation for a nuclear strike, should the day ever come. Earlier this year, emergency simulations were conducted in both areas to prepare, with participation from federal agencies, including the Department of Defense, the FBI and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

California is another state planning for nuclear attack, adding the possible bombing to its list of natural disasters such as earthquakes, wildfires and floods, according to the Los Angeles Times. California has a statewide standardized emergency management system that involves collaboration from local, state and federal agencies.

Most of these emergency plans encourage residents to find buildings that provide the highest level of protection —  according to FEMA’s recommendations, the best bet is the basement of a brick or concrete structure — though seismic concerns do present a challenge. The advice is "get inside, stay inside and stay tuned."

Ventura County is one of the few local governments with a nuclear plan in place. Dr. Robert Levin, Ventura County's health officer, has been fielding phone calls about the county's nuclear preparedness plan recently. In Ventura's plan, and in national guidance from FEMA, there is less focus on designated fallout shelters than during the Cold War.

"The advice we want to give people is they should not expose themselves to fallout," Levin told Bisnow.

In an urban setting, if people can get away from the fallout, it could potentially save 200,000 or more lives, he said.

Levin said there has been a shift away from the designated public fallout shelters of the past. Today's advice is to seek out the innermost rooms of nearby big buildings that can serve as shelter (thicker walls of cement or brick protect better from fallout).

"Members of the public should get to as big a building as they can find in 15 minutes," he said. "It's believed big buildings are as good as fallout shelters for keeping you away from fallout. ... If those big buildings have parking lots underground, all the better.”

Levin hopes the advice of "get inside, stay inside and stay tuned" will become as well-known as "stop, drop and roll." When that happens, preparedness plans will have truly been successful, he said.