Parents starting an air raid shelter

[PanicStations2025]

I've called my parents tonight and they’ve been telling me all about the shelter that they’re building in case Russia attacks. I feel like this is crazy! They do live near an army base (within 10 miles) so they’ve been packing food, water, games, bedding etc to survive a week! Is it me or is that insane? Are we really at that level of risk now? Should I be starting a pack? What do I even put in it?

I have food, bottled water etc to last a week. I grew up in an earthquake zone, and it's in case something goes wrong and you can't get out, and emergency services can't get in. It's rotated through the pantry tho, not in a shelter!

Many people on this thread might be interested in The Wargame podcast from Sky News. It’s an interesting listen

open.spotify.com/episode/24V3CrPvYVI9vHK5F7pwUJ?si=xi7Ut0gYQwytB4Imb7JTMA

You"re right in a way but those numbers you quote are almost certainly too high for anything the Russians.might throw at the UK, certainly from western Russia ....

One of the big problems with defending against any ballistic missile, even a short range one, is that unless it's pretty much coming directly at you (i.e. you are pretty much on it's target) your interceptor missile will have a tough time coping with the rate at which the incoming object moves across the sky....

That's one of several reasons why with current technology anti-missile systems aren't that widespread or can only defend a relatively small area.

Building a bomb shelter: generally insane. If we are bombed it will be with nukes and it will be much better to die in the initial blast rather than dying slowly over the subsequent weeks due to being in a shelter. The only shelters worth being in will be the ultra deep government shelters that have been tooled up with air and water purification plant and hydroponics facilities enough to be self-sustaining for years, and that won’t be achievable on a domestic scale.

Laying in supplies to function off-grid for up to a week: pretty sensible. Much more likely than bombing is attacks on our infrastructure that could lead to being without electricity, gas and mains water for a few days, and possibly unable to reach shops, or possibly shops empty/closed due to the same issues - but most domestic homes don't have the space to reserve that much stuff, so building a "bomb shelter" to act as a storage cupboard for those supplies isn't insane if they have the resources to do so.

@Poopeepoopee Sadly - we ARE in range of both Russian Cruise Missiles and Nuclear Missiles. And the UK is not well defended by air if it comes to it.

The last of the US Cruise Missiles was removed from Greenham Common in 1992 - but there are still Trident Missiles and Nuclear Submarines based at Faslane, off the West coast of Scotland.

Of course, a nuclear war is highly unlikely to happen, but not all missiles have nuclear capability - and there are some which could reach the UK from, say, Kalingrad, where Putin is purported to be upgrading the systems there. That's less than 900 miles from UK

It's all very scary stuff.

Me too!
We live within 500 yards of a top secret surveillance facility, presumably a good target for Russia or any other idiot.
Digging anything is impossible as we’re pretty much on bedrock and, quite frankly, I cba.
At 71 I’ve lived through several doomsday predictions and I’d rather be annihilated than struggle on until the inevitable 🤷🏼‍♀️

@PanicStations2025 If they are filling their basement cellar with supplies, seems like a good idea to me. Even if it is just a major disruption to supplies, no harm in them doing that. I know people in the US who have done the same thing for quite a long time ( a number of years) and if it provides some reassurance, then why not!

There are tonnes of old WWII air raid shelters in gardens where I live. I’m semi-convinced there’s actually an underground one in my own garden. Most people seem to use them for storage these days.

I also watch prepped videos on YouTube though I’m just a hoarder, rather than a prepper. I teeter between alarm and admiration of the preppers and their ingenious ways.

In OP’s shoes, I’d probably be round at the parents house helping with the build. 😳

When I think of the whole 'mutually assured destruction' thing my mind goes straight to Ian Gillan and his falsetto .

There are things called nuclear submarines, you know.

Gee, you guys are so naive... The whole of Eastern Europe/Scandinavia is arming hard, buying all the arms they can get and training all their civilians and getting ready for a big war in the next 10 years and that is a fact. Russian bombs maybe won't hapen or maybe will here, nobody knows this. If your parents live close to some army post, it's very likely to be bombarded first if the war starts and if the UK provides i.e. air cover or any other substantial military aid (very likely). It's time to wake up...

Have they seen When the Wind Blows? Traumatised my childhood!

Oh bless your little heart I know that. An anderson shelter won't protect you from that though will it?

It could have been some protection against flying debris but not a direct hit.

100 Gy should do it.

The way I look at it, it’s always good that 50% of the population think something is a good idea and 50% think it’s a bad idea. That way at least half the population will survive. I apply this to everything in life, eg vaccines, the way people eat, how much they exercise etc.

A week?

What is going to be so bad that they need to isolate for a week but not so bad that they can trot on out after 7 days?

It might eventually become a USP if they ever want to sell their house I suppose.

It reminds me of the people who don't put money in a pension on the basis that "they might get run over next week" or don't bother trying to be healthy because "I might get cancer anyway". Half are lazy, and half lack any forwards vision.

Obviously there's no point building a shelter for nuclear war, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't prepare for surving other types of disaster, whether natural or man made.

This. What do they envisage when they emerge from their shelter?

Do they still have a video or dvd player? Send them a copy of When the Wind Blows.

Who thinks that they wouldn't think they would be emerging to take charge of the new world order ?

I wonder how the preppers who thought they'd see through the fall of Rome got on ? If only the Vikings could write 😀

Bit if they watched Threads, surely they would want the bomb to land on them, not to survive it! For those of you who are younger: Threads is the bleakest film you will ever watch!

You are not wrong. Haunts me yet.

Aside from the risk of their supplies being damaged in a flood, I don't see the harm. Not likely that they'll need it or that it will do much good if they do, but if it gives them a sense of comfort, why not? And strictly speaking, it isn't a bad idea to have a bag ready to grab and go for yourself. I've never made one myself, but I think it's probably worth the few minutes it would take to throw together. At least it would be wise to have a list of the essentials you'd want to grab if you only had 5 or 10 minutes to get out of your home.

Not isolation but having supplies in case you can't get them elsewhere, for instance in an extended power cut over a large area (or even the whole UK if caused by a hybrid attack) - you need supplies for that. I had a 5 day power cut once, I was very lucky that I predicted it and filled a massive bucket with water because 5 days it meant 5 days with no running water.

It truly is a harrowing BBC movie which imagines decades from now, under a nuclear winter sky, the survivors scavenge for turnips while women are forced to sell themselves for a meagre ration of food. Language has broken down. Society has utterly collapsed. A woman gives birth in the ruins of a hospital, with no medicine, no help just pain and filth. The lucky ones died first. For the rest, it's a return to the Stone Age living like wild animals, clawing for survival.

If your parents have savings, tell them to spend it on a good holiday or on moving somewhere safe. Anything but waiting for this.