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Terror fears turned into cash
04/09/2007 22:02 - (SA)
Berlin - Nearly two decades after the end of the Cold War a German company is tapping into rising fears of terrorism and natural disasters to sell citizens what it calls the "complete protection" - a family fall-out shelter.
The ready-made bunkers, which retail from €89 000, are said to guard against atomic, biological and chemical threats - as well as the earthquakes, avalanches and hurricanes expected to result from global warming.
They can be installed in any garden within a week.
"September 11 made me ask myself how safe Germany was," CEO Oliver Redschlag said. "But I came to realise that we weren't safe at all. The German engagement in Afghanistan has put us especially at risk."
However, few in peaceful Germany seem convinced of the need for such shelters. Only a small proportion of the roughly 15 orders for bunkers came from Germany, said Oliver Langwich, a sales engineer for ABC Guard Safety Systems.
But there is ample interest from abroad in bunkers made by the Hanover-based company, which opened for business in April.
"We are getting several hundred enquiries a month," said Langwich. "The greatest interest comes from Russia, Spain and Turkey."
The basic family shelter offered by the firm sleeps up to seven people and has an outer shell made up of reinforced concrete. More expensive models contain decontamination air locks and have armour plating.
"Demand is particularly high in Turkey because of the fear of earthquakes," said Langwich. "Businesses are very interested as well."
The company, whose slogan is "a safe place in an unsafe world", denies it is exploiting people's fears to make money.
"Our customers are totally ordinary citizens who want reliable protection," Langwich said.
At the height of the Cold War Switzerland passed a law requiring space for every citizen in nuclear bunkers, many of them in house cellars and apartment blocks
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