Sales of spaces in U.S. doomsday bunker soar 1000%

Almaty. April 4. Kazakhstan Today - U.S. companies selling doomsday bunkers are seeing sales skyrocket 1000% since the Japanese earthquake, Kazakhstan Today reports.

Reservations for a doomsday bunker in the U.S. have rocketed since Japan's catastrophic earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown, The Daily Mail reported.

The 137,000sq ft bunker - designed to house 950 people for a year and withstand a 50 megaton blast - is currently being built under the grasslands of Nebraska.

Vivos, the California-based company behind it, is taking $5,000 (3,100 pounds) deposits, which will have to be topped up to $25,000 (15,600 pounds) to secure a place.

It says applications have soared 1000 per cent in the wake of the disasters in Japan. And the bunkers will be kitted out with all the modern conveniences the American consumer has come to expect.

Once finished the complex will feature four levels of residential suites, a dental and medical center, kitchens, pet kennels, a bakery, a prayer room, a fully stocked wine cellar and even a prison to detain any misbehaving residents.

'People are afraid of the earth-changing events and ripple effects of the earthquake, which led to tsunamis, the nuclear meltdown, and which will lead to radiation and health concerns,' said Vivos CEO Robert Vicino.

The news comes after low levels of radiation were detected in milk in two U.S. states, the first sign Japan's nuclear crisis is affecting American food.

At least 15 states have now reported radioactive particles from the stricken Fukushima reactor. Earlier in the week the Environment Protection Agency confirmed radiation was found in air filters in Alabama and in rainwater in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Though the trace levels are very low and not hazardous to health, residents have been warned not to use rainwater which has been collected in cisterns.

The company claims its bunkers are designed to withstand a range of catastrophic events, from nuclear terrorism to the gravitational havoc a rogue planet sweeping across the solar system could cause.

Interest in doomsday bunkers has grown over recent years, but critics say developers are simply trying to cash in on public panic. Oleg Repchenko, the head of Russian analytical centre 'Indicators of Real Estate Market', told The Voice of Russia: 'These fears emerged in the US a long time ago back in the Cold War era.

'September 11, 2001 has seriously affected the psychology of common Americans and part of the population is afraid of disasters and terrorist attacks.

'Panicking is quite typical for Americans even when a disaster happens not on their territory but across the ocean in Japan. Once something terrifying happens it makes people think more about their future.'

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