The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Switzerland wants to phase out need for bunkers in private homes

shelter
Keystone / Alessandro Della Bella

The authorities are proposing to scrap the requirement for Swiss homes to maintain underground bomb shelters with fewer than seven spaces.

Around 100,000 such single-home emergency air-raid shelters exist in the country. Homeowners are required to keep them available for emergencies as part of the country’s civil protection strategy.

However, Swiss public broadcaster SRF revealedExternal link on Friday that the federal government and cantons would like to phase them out due to the high cost of retrofitting them to remain operational. 

+ How Switzerland is preparing for nuclear escalation

The unpublished “Protective Structures Concept” of the Federal Office for Civil Protection states that private bunkers with fewer than seven spaces should be abolished. The ventilation units for such installations are over four decades old and have to be changed. However, these units are no longer manufactured and the cost of retrofitting the bunkers outweighs the benefits, according to the document. In addition, it was felt that there were too many of these small shelters for the civil defence force to manage in case of an emergency. 

+ Bunkers for all

Switzerland has had a unique ‘shelters for all’ policy since 1963, at the height of the Cold War. Every person in the country must have a spot in a bunker in case of some kind of catastrophe. Bunkers either have to be built underneath homes and blocks of flats, or the building owner has to pay the local authorities for a spot in a public shelter.

For around 20 years, shelters have no longer had to be built in new houses. In principle, they are now only required for new buildings with 38 rooms or more. 

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

Plane grazes hikers on Monte Rosa, pilot apologises

More

Plane grazes hikers on Monte Rosa

This content was published on A Geneva-registered tourist plane grazed some ski mountaineers on Saturday on a glacier on the Swiss side of the Monte Rosa massif.

Read more: Plane grazes hikers on Monte Rosa
The air in climbing gyms is more polluted than on the streets

More

Air in climbing gyms more polluted than on streets

This content was published on The concentration of potentially harmful chemicals in climbing gyms is sometimes higher than on busy roads, say researchers from Switzerland and Austria.

Read more: Air in climbing gyms more polluted than on streets
Swiss with lower profit in the first quarter

More

SWISS reports lower profit in first quarter

This content was published on Swiss International Air Lines (SWISS) achieved slightly higher sales at the start of the year. However, profits fell sharply, partly due to the late Easter.

Read more: SWISS reports lower profit in first quarter
Significantly less wine is drunk in Switzerland

More

Swiss drink significantly less wine

This content was published on Wine consumption in Switzerland fell by almost 8% in 2024 compared to the previous year. Swiss wines are particularly affected by the decline.

Read more: Swiss drink significantly less wine

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR