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BILLIONAIRES have started constructing bunkers that protect against power failures, sparking fears of an impending World War 3 and a windfall of business for niche developers.
Several developers said they've been booked solid since Mark Zuckerberg started building a massive facility underneath his property in Hawaii.
In December 2021, onlookers worried after it was reported that Zuckerberg was breaking ground on an estimated $270 million 57,000-square-foot Doomsday bunker.
The facility was said to be under the Meta founder's home on Hawaii's fourth-largest island Kauai and had "its own energy and food supplies," Wired reported last December.
The billionaire reportedly planned on filling the football field-sized space with 30 bedrooms, elevators, a swimming pool, a sauna, a tennis court, and a full-sized gym.
Workers at the site had to sign an NDA barring them from speaking about Zuckerberg’s underground bunker, according to Wired.
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“It’s fight club. We don’t talk about fight club,” one former contract employee said.
“Anything posted from here, they get wind of it right away."
Though the details surrounding Zuckerberg's development sparked disturbing conspiracy theories, developers have admitted it's been great for business.
The founder of California-based building company Vivos said that underground survival is a lucrative trend and that he's making sales on a daily basis.
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"Now that Zuckerberg has let the cat out of the bag, that's got other people who share his status or are near his status starting to think, 'Oh God, if he's doing that, maybe he knows something I don't,'" Robert Vicino told The Hollywood Reporter.
"It's no secret that one-percenters and top-ranking government officials have been in on this bunker idea for a long-ass time."
According to Vicino, the pandemic shifted the mindset of top earners who were struck by an influx of lootings, mass shootings, and domestic tensions.
Now, global conflicts like the Israel-Hamas War and the war between Russia and Ukraine continue to stoke anxieties among people of all classes.
"We're here to provide peace-of-mind solutions," he said.
Al Corbi, the president and founder of Virginia-based SAFE (Strategically Armored & Fortified Environments) said that protecting against potential power failures is a must for billionaires.
The ultra-rich are so worried about being stuck in their mansions, that they are even investing in vintage cars and planes that don't require computer interfaces.
"The newness is it's shifting from the idea of nuclear ka-boom to protection against local threats," he said.
"The real threat is the power grid... In situations like this, sustaining your life is as important as food and water."
IN THE SHELTER
Corbi revealed the plans for one of his biggest projects to date - a bunker on an island in the middle of a manmade, flammable lake.
"The shelter can withstand a blast one mile from ground zero," he said.
"But that was almost incidental."
Once the client told Corbi he wanted to make sure "no one can get to my family," the builder had the wild video to dig a 30-foot-deep lake around the compound and fill it with flammable liquid.
If anyone lights up the lake, it will turn into a "ring of fire" that will burn them to a crisp.
"The only access to the island is a swing bridge," Corbi said.
To combat assailants who may try to access the bunker by air, Corbi plans to install a "water cannon" that's powerful enough to down helicopters.
When the billionaire Doomsday prepper isn't shooting down his enemies, he could also use the cannon to play a game, Corbi said.
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Friends and family can get on jet skis and ride across the pond while someone tries to hit them and blow them off in a "mind-boggling adult Nintendo game," he told the outlet.
The wild developments come after aerial photos showed that celeb couple Rob Lowe and Sheryl Berkoff appeared to start construction on a bunker of their own.