a fallout shelter transformed into a karting circuit must be freed within forty-eight hours in the event of an emergency

In Finland, being ready for conflict is not only a matter for the army. In Helsinki, the capital, as in the whole country, each citizen must have enough reserves to be autonomous for seventy-two hours in the event of a problem. And the Finns have built many fallout shelters, such as a downtown parking lot that can accommodate 3,800 people. This is what the country calls the concept of “total defence” which involves the citizens.

Some bunkers intended to protect the inhabitants of this country even house recreation centers: “It’s a bomb shelter built in the early 1970s and it sat empty for ten years, with no use. We’ve been there since 1995 and it’s become a go-kart”says Lauri Illuka, of the Formula Center Helsinki, to the magazine “We, the Europeans” (replay).

There is a stock of food, water, showers, toilets…

Can this underground karting circuit once again become a shelter in the event of a threat of attack against this country which formalized its application for membership of the Atlantic Alliance on May 15, 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian army on the previous February 24? “Yes, in case of emergency… We have forty-eight hours to clean everything and take out all the material if the government calls us”says the manager.

“Here, it is planned to accommodate 2,000 to 2,500 people for several weeks. The food is stored there but I hope it does not date from the 1970s… There is stock, water, showers, toilets…everything you need in a shelter”details the Finnish operator whose country has 1,340 kilometers of common border with the Russian Federation…

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