Builders who don't construct a shelter have to buy space at a municipal shelter. The municipalities are responsible for the coverage in their area.
Now about supplies... While emergency food doesn't have to be stored in the bunker, civil defense authorities recommend that each hosehold stores non-perishable food that will last for several days ( source ).
Also, the federation together with the foodstuffs industry maintains a reserve that as of 2008 lasts for:
The first law against then merely anti air raid bunkers was created in 1934. The fundament for the current shelter legislation was laid in 1963. In Zurich Wipkingen there's Switzerland's only civil defense museum , hosted in a big former bunker.
Ever been in Swiss military service ? Presumably rather not. As otherwise you would understand the situation as what it is, the "quite normal madness" "Civil Protection" is for the believers. Otherwise you better sleep on and wait until the civil protection activists start to relax . ....
Most people in Switzerland, theoretically I mean (home address) are "within proximity to a community shelter, so what ! Only that people when fate hits will be at a Street Parade, a Jazz Festival, an EF meeting, on the Wine Ships, in the Badi, or wherever
I in Zurich have never seen beds or toilets. It was rumoured that they existed. I however did see such gears in military service in community-utility-centres.
And the inspectors in question in the late 60ies and very early 70ies only had a general glance and then withdraw with the man in charge to the nearest restaurant. Those right after the Cuba Crisis had dramatic gestures and a very fateful vocabulary ...........
no no no, the high prices of real estate in Switzerland are the result of various factors, like
I don't know many people, in fact only one elderly spinster born in 1928 and still living in the same apartment, who really have these storages. That the legislation came about in 1963, just a year after the crisis, was unbelievably swift !
I think including every eventuality of what the populous will be doing at the time of a catastrophe is going to be hard to write into general building regulations somehow. I guess that is why it just says a new build has to contain a bunker unless there is a community provision nearby. Simples.
My guess is that in times of political strife and the threat of a nuclear attack stuff like the wine ships and street parade could possible be cancelled and residents urged to stay at home and only go out when necessary. Somehow I don't think the people of Switzerland will be surprised by a nuclear strike while they are sampling a Shiraz on a lake steamer.
Same goes for a noxious cloud - you usually get a few hours notice to return home, close your windows and put your head between your knees.
You see, anybody wanting to attack Switzerland would do so during the Street Parade in Zurich ! Or would do so at the Saturday of the start of summer school holidays.
And, " a few hours notice" ? All instructions in military service say that a nuclear thing on Stuttgart would reach Zurich within less than half an hour, far too short for most working people to get anywhere. The whole "civil protection" business is "opium for the people" ...
Interesting what you learnt about civil defense in the army. Attentive EF readers however have seen the threads about the regular test alerts in Switzerland, though.
I have read such things about those test alerts as well and find them self-contradictory and in contradiction to what is fed to the soldiers of this nation, and as a Swiss citizen rather feel obliged to apologize to all foreigners for this kind of mental torture done by the authorities ! I in military service often was the one, in the office of the battery/company HQ to write the instructions down, and I always tried to use whatever freedom availabe to write it in a useful way, and all this with the support of my captain(s), the Furier (higher subaltern officer in charge with feeding etc) and the Feldweibel (higher subaltern officer in charge with lodgings and general organisation). You can be sure that none of us, neither superiors nor colleagues, had any desire to get into treason against the Confederation .
The ravers would no doubt be immune to any form of biological or chemical attack due to their previous intake of illicit substances which would, invariably, act as a catalyst for their own body's defenses.
Never cared about bunkers before. I only keep track of the pills in case one of the power plants near my place could have a containment fail…but I’m reading today this article: Safe Space - Why does Switzerland have so many bunkers?
I had no idea bunkers were so damned expensive and that we pay for them via higher real estate prices or rent. FFS!
Switzerland’s policy to provide shelter to every single resident in the event of a crisis was first enshrined into law in 1963. Every new residential building in Switzerland must either include an on-site bunker, or else developers are required to earmark funds for a nearby public one maintained by the state. As a result, Switzerland is today host to 370,000 bunkers designed to protect civilians underground for anywhere from a few hours to two weeks.
Ventilation systems have a shelf life of about 40 years, and neutralize the effects of radiation, nuclear fallout and chemical and biological weapons. The maintenance and construction cost per person, borne largely by developers and property owners, is comparable to annual premiums for Swiss health insurance: Historically, the price per spot is about 1,400 Swiss francs in bunkers with a capacity of 50 to 200, or about 3,000 Swiss francs for smaller ones.
you guys are talking about two different things. One is the bunkers. Most of them in the basements of private houses. (Wouldn’t count on the nuclear bit tough)
The other is the “a body organized into 26 cantonal divisions, whose aim is to provide assistance to the population in the event of disasters or other harmful events” (from KiwiSteve’s link)
They are connected. When I came to Switzerland in 83 I remember one conversation with a neighbour who explained the civil defence “bunker” in the basement of our block of flats. If the bombs started falling, the Swiss men were going to bugger off into the mountains and the women, children and foreign men like me would go into the basement where there were washing machines, stored food, skiis and no toilets. This idea made no sense then and even less today. There are some proper bunkers around for a small number of people but not for the whole population. In the event of war there is always little protection for the civilian population. It makes absolute sense to use the existing infrastructure for use in civil emergencies and this is what is being done now.
Never seen any chemical toilets in basements, but maybe they are part of the secret.
The main point is that the armed neutrality, retreat back into the mountains idea that was relevant in 1914 in 1939 has not been viable for a long time now. If one gives up the main areas of population, what is the point?
The idea that a nuclear war going on around Switzerland would be survivable is, shall we say, questionable. A weeks notice to get prepared is not going to make much difference.
