Switzerland is planning to spend £200 million upgrading its network of

Switzerland is planning to spend £200 million upgrading its network of
nuclear shelters amid rising fears of Russian aggression.

The country already has bunker space for each of its nine million
inhabitants — a situation long dismissed as paranoia by its neighbours
— but it will now update and improve old structures to ensure
“resilience in the event of armed conflict”.

Last week Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary-general, warned that it was
[1]“time to shift to a wartime mindset” in preparation for a broader
conflict in Europe.

• [2]Will Russia use nuclear weapons? Putin’s options explained

Neutral [3]Switzerland may not be a member of the alliance but it has
long been planning for all-out conflict. Under a 1963 law all Swiss
residents, including foreigners and refugees, are guaranteed a spot in
a shelter capable of protecting them from nuclear, biological and
chemical weapons as well as “close hits from conventional weapons”.

It has about 370,000 private and public shelters. Most people have one
in the basement because developers are required to include a shelter
for at least 25 people in any building with 38 or more rooms.

Bunk beds in a Gollion atomic shelter.

Most apartment buildings have a bunker in case of nuclear or chemical
attack

CECILE MANTOVANI/REUTERS

Switzerland plans to remove some exceptions from the rules on bunker
construction. The law states that they must be made from reinforced
concrete with blast-proof doors and include an emergency exit and a
ventilation system equipped with filters. Larger shelters must also
have an airlock to prevent the entry of contaminated air.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, civil protection offices in
Switzerland received anxious calls from residents asking where the
nearest shelter was.

Louis-Henri Delarageaz, civil protection commander for the Vaud canton,
said that requests from people in neighbouring France for spaces in air
raid shelters had to be refused. “All of a sudden … we were indeed
extremely sought-after, with people wanting to know where the shelters
were, where is my place, is my shelter ready?” he told Reuters.

Civil protection commander in a Gollion atomic shelter hospital room.

Louis-Henri Delarageaz in an atomic shelter which includes a hospital
room, above, and an emergency escape hatch, below

CECILE MANTOVANI/REUTERS

Civil protection worker opening an atomic shelter emergency exit.

He said that the planned upgrade was not in preparation for conflict
but because the shelters needed to be maintained and kept functional.

During a recent mandatory, once-a-decade inspection of an apartment
block in the village of Bercher in the Vaud canton, civil protection
officers found that the bunker door would not shut and the escape
tunnel, full of cobwebs, led to a deep manhole with no ladder.

The shelter was deemed unusable and the residents were given a year to
fix the faults or pay £710 for a spot in a public shelter.

These are luxurious problems by comparison with non-neutral Germany,
which is [4]among the biggest weapons suppliers to Ukraine and has
dismantled many of its Cold War bunkers in recent decades so that it
now has public shelters for only 480,000 people, or 0.57 percent of the
population.

Even at the height of the Cold War, West Germany only had shelters for
just under 4 per cent of the population. In 2007 the German government
decided to discontinue the “functional preservation of shelters”.

Ralph Tiesler, head of Germany’s Federal Office for Civil Protection
and Disaster Assistance (BBK), said it would take at least a generation
to provide a new network of bunkers.

Given increasingly strident warnings from intelligence chiefs that
Russia is [5]preparing for a war with Nato, the BBK is reported to be
working on a plan to ramp up civil protection rapidly.

It plans to identify all freely accessible buildings and private
buildings that could offer protection from missile attacks, such as
subway stations and office blocks. It is also working on an app that
will show people their nearest shelters.

In addition, owners of detached houses are being encouraged to set up
shelters in their cellars or garages.

The BBK has said that metro stations, underground car parks and
basement rooms would offer good protection against a blast wave and
falling debris and limited protection against radioactive environmental
radiation. Stairwells or interior rooms with no windows could offer
“significant protection”.

References

1. https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/uk-defence-spending-russian-threat-nato-x57jmn70q
2. https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/will-russia-use-nuclear-weapons-putin-doctrine-ukraine-n85m33src
3. https://www.thetimes.com/article/neutral-swiss-join-eu-sanctions-against-russia-cfvrnqs3q
4. https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/german-finance-ministry-accused-disguised-retreat-on-ukraine-funding-t2jc8c0mz
5. https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/putin-is-already-at-war-with-nato-and-itll-soon-get-worse-0f8mvn8p9