Finland Exports Cold War Expertise

In Helsinki, Finland, officials are preparing a large shelter—capable of housing 6,000 people—for use in emergencies like natural disasters or war. Originally built as a sports and recreation facility, the Merihaka shelter can be fully equipped with beds and supplies within 72 hours. Finland constructed over 50,000 shelters after 1945, providing space for roughly five million citizens.

Recently, foreign delegations from Ukraine, the EU, and Germany have visited Merihaka to observe Finland’s approach to civilian protection. Finnish companies like Temet and Verona Shelters are seeing increased demand for their expertise in radiation shielding, ventilation, and emergency power. Temet plans to build a factory in the United Arab Emirates to meet export demands, anticipating 80% of its revenue will come from overseas sales.

However, a comprehensive inventory of existing civilian shelters is lacking in Austria, where regulations requiring their inclusion in new buildings were repealed in the 1990s. Germany is also focusing on utilizing existing infrastructure like parking garages and subway stations for short-term shelter. Finland recently established Resilience Center Finland to facilitate exports of this technology and continue development.