A peep into Finland’s terrific bunkers designed to save citizens from air raids

During a stop at Malmi Comprehensive School on Talveltie Street in Helsinki, I saw the magnificent, all-round education system of Finland on display. Elsewhere, I explored a patch of the country’s vast “magical” forests, savoured memorable moments in a sauna – Finland’s iconic traditional steam bath chamber – and dipped myself in one of the Nordic country’s 188,000 lakes.

After all of these in two days, I concluded that nothing else could beat my imagination in the remaining days I was going to spend in Helsinki, the capital of this vastly forested country in the north of Europe. What was left to be seen in the capital city of over 670,000 people,  I imagined, was going to be the usual expected in an advanced democracy and economy on the cutting edge of technology.

As we stepped out of our bus in Merihaka, a residential area in central Helsinki, on Thursday (23 May), my eyes quickly caught a man with an expressionless face, and a woman lavishly smiling towards us. Both were resplendently dressed in their dark uniform, with the man setting his glasses on his forehead.

After two days, Tuesday and Wednesday (21 and 22 May), in Helsinki, I was already Beyond first three citizens

I asked Mr Rask if he was aware of anything that compared with Finland’s extensive underground bunkers to protect a mass of citizens in other countries.

He sighed and said, “Every country in the world has some form of protection like this for the first two or three citizens to guarantee continuance of government. But in Finland, we think that our country is our people.”

The bunkers are an example of how well the underground has been put to astonishing use in a nation that does not fancy skyscrapers. “It takes less energy to heat up a building that extends horizontally than the ones that
extend vertically upwards,” Mr Rask said.

What the Finns miss in the mesmerising skyscrapers of New York, for instance, they compensate for it underground.

How to shelter in bunkers

The Finnish government hopes that it will have three days to prepare public and private bunkers for sheltering citizens ahead of major attacks.

It also envisages that people would only have to shelter for between hours and three days.

There is no free food or hotel treatment during sheltering.

The people are advised to go into shelters with their food and medications that they would need theoretically for three days. There could be an extension of the sheltering beyond three days depending on the nature of the circumstances.

The sheltering population is divided into three, with each getting three eight-hour shifts. While one group is sleeping, another is working and the third is having their spare time.

Pets, alcohol, smoking, and guns are not allowed in the shelters.

Shelter during wartime, recreational centre during peacetime

The beauty of the bunkers is that they are not useless in peacetime.

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Mr Rask showed us gyms, mini football pitches, children’s paradise and stores that are put in place at various shelter spaces by entrepreneurs who have rented different parts of the facilities during peacetime. A huge sheltering space in the facility currently serves as a paid car park.

I also learnt that the Finnish metro, constructed deep in the bedrock of Finland, was designed to serve as bunkers during wartime.

Some private bunkers are also used for storage.

These borrowed uses must give way within three days to serve as civil defence shelters during wartime.

Our visit to the Merihaka civil defence shelter on Thursday coincided with a bout of maintenance being carried out on the facility.

We saw whirring machines being used for cleaning the ventilation systems. So, Finns do not wait until they start hearing the drumbeats of war before carrying out necessary maintenance on the shelters.

Asked how much was being earned from the rentals, Mr Rask said he was not interested in the money. But he believes the rents are enough to maintain the facilities which are kept clean and ready for use within 72 hours.

He said everything brought into the facilities by the renters are lightweight.

He also showed us a section with carefully arranged chairs where Finnish decision-makers, including lawmakers, are periodically taken through the civil defence system available in the country.

I come from a country struggling to run its tarpaulin camps for thousands of internally displaced persons in the Boko Haram war-ravaged parts of northeastern Nigeria.

A nation that still cannot keep its school children safe from kidnappers that regularly abduct them and that cannot keep farmers and the rest of the citizenry safe from terrorists. It has yet to find a solution to flooding that sweeps away human lives and their fortunes almost annually. So, the shelter that I saw was a wonder.

It demonstrates the extent a government, where it functions efficiently, can go to help its citizens. It goes beyond bunkers. It’s more about how Finland has learnt from its history, cultivated the culture of inventing practical solutions to its peculiar problems, judiciously used its resources, and ultimately made the people the primary focus of governance.

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