The ultra-wealthy are building luxury bunkers and prepping for doomsday. Should we be concerned? Does the influx of billionaire bunkers indicate some kind of incoming disaster that the rest of us won’t know about until it’s too late? What kinds of grandiose lengths will they go to to keep themselves safe underground or out in space?

To set the scene, underground shelters and bunkers have come in and out of demand since the Cold War, peaks of demand usually coinciding with heightened international tensions. It may be unsurprising that there has been a significant influx since 2017, when a certain US president took office. Building shelter for protection is instinctual, one of the most basic of human needs, but the bunkers of today are a far cry from the bare necessities of survival.

(SpaceX)

(Pictorial Parade/Getty Images)

The initial ideas of these bunkers and shelters were purely for survival; practical and effective designs were prioritized for families to avoid nuclear fallout until they could be relocated. The original idea was that the government would build shelters for citizens, but that idea was scrapped once they realized how expensive it would be to do so; thus, it fell on families and individuals to fund and build their own bunkers. Of course, that individualistic sentiment has not changed either, but what has changed is the scale of the bunkers that people are building. There’s an obvious difference between the bunkers of the past and the ones being built today. The small fallout shelters of the Cold War are now being replaced by luxury compounds, resembling the Bat Cave more than Diefenbunker.

(Getty Images/Underwood Archives)

(SAFE/Naomi Corbi)

(SAFE/Naomi Corbi)

(SAFE/Naomi Corbi)

(SAFE/Naomi Corbi)

Billionaires seem to be preparing for long-term staycations in their luxury bunkers, as practicality is entirely overridden by their desire for opulence and multi-million dollar compounds are built with tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of square feet. In his book, Survival of the Richest, Douglas Rushkoff recounts his interaction with 5 unnamed tech oligarchs and their bombardment of questions on how they can remain in control when their money has no value. It seems these select few refer to the future in fear of “The Event”, the societal collapse that they know is coming. It’s a story that you wish was fictional, but seeing the compounds that are being planned, you don’t need to read the book to know it’s true (though I highly recommend you read it anyway).