Terrorism can be good for bunker builders. An apocalypse can be even better for business.
Danila Andreyev started building “panic rooms” three years ago, when fears of terrorist attacks created demand in Russia. Now he is selling “survival bunkers” for as much as $400,000 each to capitalize on angst over theories that the world will end next year, based on interpretations of the ancient Mayan calendar.
“I myself am not a believer in doomsday scenarios,” said Andreyev, 31, whose Spetsgeo proekt company is completing 15 bunkers at hidden locations across Russia. “But when you start hearing clients talking about the end of the world, it gets you thinking.”
The Vivos Group, a California-based bunker builder with a website that features a meteor striking Earth, said requests for a shelter in one of its facilities had jumped by 10 times since the March tsunami and earthquake in Japan.
The nearest Vivos shelter is at an unidentified location in central Europe, said Vivos founder Robert Vicino. It costs about $25,000 per person.
