Zuckerberg’s New Bunker Gets Him Ready for Nuclear War. Are You Ready?

Everyone agrees it’s a good idea to keep a flashlight, extra batteries, a transistor radio, water, and a first-aid kit handy in case of storms or power outages. If you want to dial-up your disaster preparation, you can add several hundred day’s worth of freeze-dried food, a generator, and maybe a ham radio.

So far, so good. How about a $270 million, 57,000 square foot bunker on an island in the North Pacific with 12 buildings, 30 bedrooms, 30 bathrooms, independent energy, water, and food supplies and more? Now we’re talking!

Is anyone actually building such a bunker? According to this article, the builder is none other than Mark Zuckerberg, the nerdy multi-billionaire who founded Facebook (now Meta).

What’s the point of these super-bunkers? Since Zuckerberg has access to the best engineering and construction talent in the world, one assumes that the bunker is built to survive a nuclear attack and the resulting radioactive fallout. You might have to stay underground for several months before the “all clear” signal is sounded, but that sounds entirely feasible for Mark & Friends.

I actually have some experience in disaster and evacuation planning working for the Pentagon and the Director of National Intelligence. I find that most plans will break down within minutes of sounding the alarm.

Evacuation of a major city? You can’t get out of Washington DC or New York on a good day; how are you supposed to move anywhere when every bridge, tunnel, and highway is jammed with pedestrians, trucks, stalled cars, and more and people are running for their lives?

(By the way, the trick for dealing with those situations is a bicycle. It moves about 10 mph, does not need fuel, can work on road or offroad, can weave through stalled cars, and you can carry it on your back if needed in difficult terrain).

The real flaw in a plan like Zuckerberg’s is getting there. What if you’re in Europe when a nuclear war begins? How do you get to Hawaii with airports closed? The billionaires shrug and reply they have private planes. OK, how do you fuel the plane when the power grid is out? (Fuel pumps need electricity to operate). Will the pilot actually leave his family behind to fly the big shot to safety? Get two plans and bring the family!

You see the point. Successful evacuation and shelter look good on the drawing board, but practical limitations soon intrude.

By the way, if you want that kind of shelter and you don’t have $270 million lying around, there’s a much better alternative: location.

Identify likely nuclear targets. Study distance and prevailing winds. Pick a place that has a sense of community but is far from urban concentrations. Build a modest house with solar panels on the roof and an artesian well that does not depend on government infrastructure. Plant a small garden. Sit back and relax. You’re all set.

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