These are Finland’s mega bunkers

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Screaming children in the beginner’s pool, laughing teenagers on the slide, competitive athletes in the 50-meter pool: the indoor swimming pool in the Itäkeskus district of Helsinki, built in 1993, is a very normal sports facility. At least in peacetime. However, if there was a threat of war, the water would be pumped out of the basin and the warm, moist air would be cooled. 3,900 people would find a nuclear and poison gas safe shelter here in case bombs exploded in the Finnish capital.

Like the Swiss, the Finns are world champions in building shelters. The Second World War, in which the country had to fight against the Soviets twice and give up part of the territory in the east of the country to the enemy, taught her a lesson. Jari Markkanen (56), planning officer at Helsinki City Civil Protection, says: “We have a powerful neighbor who is unpredictable, as the war in Ukraine shows.” On April 4, Finland joined the NATO protecting force.

Finland introduced the first civil protection law in 1939. Today, all owners of public buildings – such as shopping malls, hotels and schools – as well as builders of private buildings with an area of ​​more than 1200 square meters are required to build protective bunkers. In Helsinki alone, 900,000 shelters are available for the 650,000 residents and visitors. 180,000 of them are in the 60 large public bunkers. Alarms are sent via app or sirens, which are tested every first Monday of the month. Each facility must be vacated and ready for use within 72 hours.

playground in the ground

After visiting the indoor swimming pool, Markkanen continues to look at the Merihaka shelter in the Hakaniemi district. 25 meters underground, a school class plays Nordic Floorball, which corresponds to our floorball. In another room, toddlers frolic in a playground, watched by their parents sipping a cup in a café. The 230-metre-long roof, which also includes a parking garage, was built in 2003.

In addition to moisture, Markkanen mentions waste as a major problem during a crisis. He calculates: “A person produces about half a kilo of excrement every day. With 6,000 people who would find shelter here, that is about three hundred thousand euros. All that trash should be bagged in case the running water goes out and we have to use the dry toilets.”

In the Maunula district, Markkanen unlocks the doors to underground sports facilities where volleyball, martial arts and shooting clubs have found a home. It’s quiet at the moment. Due to the penetrating moisture, the floor must be disinfected. 4000 people could be accommodated here. The bunker in Kontula, which serves as a skate park for young people, can accommodate as many as 9,000 people seeking protection. Jari Markkanen proudly says: “Here we have the thickest protective gates in all of Helsinki.”

No “ant” exercise

Markkanen has never heard of the highway tunnel in Lucerne’s Sonnenberg, which would have been closed in an emergency with gates weighing 350 tons each and would have provided protection for 20,000 people. What was once Switzerland’s largest protective structure was closed and dismantled after the failed “Ant” exercise in 2006. Markkanen listens with interest and then replies: “In the center of Helsinki, we can close any of the six metro stations and use it as a security system. ” There are no one-on-one exercises with thousands of extras like in “Ant” in Finland. Only the bunker managers would regularly train the emergency response.

The Finns drill and blast many of the protective structures directly into the 1.8 billion-year-old granite and gneiss rock on which Helsinki is built. The entrances to the bunkers are angled so that the pressure of an atomic bomb is diverted several times and thereby weakened. Smooth plaster is nowhere to be seen. “The natural, rough rock structure helps to absorb pressure waves,” says Jari Markkanen.

Animals prohibited

Most facilities are secured with two door systems: the outer portals maintain pressure, the inner portals retain hazardous gases. The systems can be pressurized so that polluted outside air cannot enter. Markkanen: “In the shelter of Merihaka, people could survive for about six hours without ventilation. After that, the oxygen content starts to decrease.” That is why there are ventilation systems in the bunkers. Diesel engines are used in the event of a power failure. They stand on swinging springs to resist vibration.

The security systems and supplies are designed for use up to 14 days. Beds are part of the equipment of public facilities – in number each one third of the people seeking protection. “This way we can sleep in eight-hour shifts,” says Markkanen. People have to bring their own food and medicines. Alcohol, drugs and heat-producing devices such as gas stoves are prohibited. Animals must also stay outside or seek shelter in a private bunker.

Familiar with the bunkers

Jari Markkanen prefers bunkers that are used as sports facilities. “They don’t get transferred and are cleaned every day,” he says. In addition, it makes it much easier to use in the event of imminent danger. Markkanen: “Because the systems are now part of everyday life for many and are linked to positive experiences, the fear of entering an emergency situation is decreasing.”

Since Russian troops invaded Ukraine, awareness of civil defense has increased, Markkanen says. “I have been doing this job for over 20 years. Our department was neglected for a long time.” Now he notices that there is much more attention for the systems. Markkanen: “We realized that the enemy is real.”

Source: Blick