Germany drawing up list of bunkers amid surging tensions

BERLIN: Germany is drawing up a list of bunkers that could provide emergency shelter for civilians, at a time of surging tensions with Russia, the interior ministry said on Monday.

It will include underground train stations and car parks but also state buildings and private properties, a ministry spokesman said. A digital directory of all bunkers and emergency shelters will be drawn up so people can find them quickly using a planned phone app.

People will also be encouraged to create protective shelters in their homes by converting basements and garages, the spokesman told a press briefing. He declined to give a timetable, saying it was a “big project” that would take “some time”, involving the Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance and other authorities.

The country of 83 million has 579 bunkers, mostly dating from World War II and the Cold War era, which can provide shelter for 480,000 people -- down from about 2,000 bunkers previously, he said.

The key points of the plan were agreed at a conference of senior officials in June, and a special group is now looking into it, the spokesman said. Since Russia´s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, concerns have been growing about Moscow´s potential to one day target other Nato members.