Warnings of another global conflict have been ramping up since February 2022 (Picture: Getty/Reuters)
Basements, underground car parks and subway stations – all be could be converted into shelters amid concerns that Vladimir Putin’s bloodshed in Ukraine will lead to World War III.
With Russia’s relationship with Nato in tatters, Germany is focusing on domestic defence.
As a result, authorities are drawing up ‘bunker plans’ in case of a bombing.
Alongside underground stations and car parks, state buildings and private properties are also expected to be used.
Inside a homemade World War II replica of a shelter in Weymouth, UK (Picture: Getty)
A digital directory of all available bunkers and emergency shelters will be drawn up so that people can find them using a mobile app.
Citizens will also be urged to create protective shelters in their homes by converting basements and garages, a spokesperson for the government told a press briefing.
He declined to give a timetable, saying it was a big project that would take some time, involving the Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance and other authorities.
Germany – a nation of more than 84 million – has 579 public shelters set aside for the purpose of civil protection with capacity of around 480,000.
Russia has also launched the mass production of KUB-M mobile nuclear shelters (Picture: e2w)
The spokesperson said the key points of the plan were agreed at a conference of senior officials in June and a special group was looking into it.
Germany has been increasingly focused on defence on its own soil since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 raised the spectre of a wider escalation on the European continent.
In a sign of how urgent the need for preparations is, a top Nato military official on Monday urged businesses to prepare for a wartime scenario.
Admiral Rob Bauer, chair of the Nato military committee, who previously warned that all of us need to be prepared to be mobilised, said: ‘Business leaders in Europe and America need to realise that commercial decisions they make, have strategic consequences for the security of their nation.
‘Businesses need to be prepared for a war-time scenario and adjust their production and distribution lines accordingly.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.