Civil Defense Shelters

I grew up in East Tennessee in the 1980s and 1990s and didn't consider war in my reality very often.  The Cold War dominated much of the news, but there were no physical signs, symbols or reminders, other than the few "Fallout Shelter" signs that I remember seeing on public buildings.  The biggest looming (perceived) "threat" was a large storage tank for Liquified Natural Gas, which I remember my father pointing out as something that would be a good target for a bomb. 

I'm realizing how significantly different it must be (have been) for people growing up in Finland.  Finland itself is a relatively young independent republic (1917-1918).  Sweden and Russia traded the terriority back and forth for quite a while.  Russia is the dominant neighboring country, especially from our perspective here in Eastern Finland.  I've come to find out that Finland takes Civil Defense quite seriously, and it is physically present in the landscape of day-to-day activities.  

Civil Defense Shelters are one physical manifestation of the Finnish reality that I find quite fascinating.  We noticed them right away on our walks and along bus routes, but it took a meeting with the City Engineer for me to finally ask someone what these cave-like openings with doors were all about.

Bedrock Civil Defense Shelters are still constructed by law in Finland whenever there is new construction of housing.  There are rules for how much shelter space there must be within a determined distance of housing units.  Builders are required to provide new shelter space along with all new housing units of a certain size.  There are at least three shelters such as the one pictured above in our neighborhood of Puijonlaakso.  

To our surprise, we started noticing people going in to these shelters quite casually.  I learned from the City Engineer that the municipality has found interesting ways of using the space of these shelters in non-war times.  Many of them are Gyms.  One of them is equipped with ping-pong equipment.  One I read about actually contains a sports facility complete with an indoor swimming pool.

I got bold and tried the door to a shelter along one of my walks.  It was locked.  I headed to another shelter I'd spotted and found an unlocked door.  It was definitely an experience that was new to me.

 I found it full of workout equipment.  Weights, lifting machines, stationary bikes, a set up for archery, a track for hurdles, a sand pit for long jump, and a boxing ring.

There were also side doors that led to rooms and hallways that I was not brave enough to go down.  It was quite incredible and certainly left an impression on me.  I spoke with someone waiting for a friend by a locked door to another shelter and learned that residents can secure keys to the doors of the shelters and that the one he was waiting to enter (his friend had the key) contained gym equipment and a place to practice golf swings.  My residency permit arrived today, so I may just have to find out how to get a key.

I also learned from the City Engineer that there are several empty Civil Defense Shelters in the city center and in some of the outlying areas and that repurposing them was not always easy, as they do not comply with current laws about multiple egresses.  In one area he mentioned that the city now owned about 10,000 square meters of empty shelter space.  I did the math and put that in perspective ~ 2.5 acres of underground shelter space.  Now there is a design challenge!!

I hope that I can add a few more of these to my adventures before we leave Finland.   I am completely intrigued.