A panic or safe room is something most of us only know from movies or what we imagine is located under the White House in Washington. That is, of course, most likely true. However, panic or safe rooms aren’t exclusive to the President of the United States of America. They serve a variety of purposes, the primary one revealed in the name itself ‘Safe Room’. Generally, it’s a safe-like room that can be locked from the inside only, for protection purposes. There are several variations of the theme, though the ones displayed in the media are usually fairly unrealistic. While it isn’t impossible to have, for example, a room that locks down completely on the press of a button, it is incredibly impractical. More common are underground rooms with one or two possible exits that are closed mechanically.
A good safe room will have necessary facilities, water and rations as well as a phone connection outside. Similar to a bunker, they can be used to protect oneself from threats like robbers, kidnappers, terrorists or the like. While they don’t come as standard equipment with most houses, they are certainly popular in certain circles, for example with politicians, celebrities, HNWI´s and UHNWI´s.
Large organisations like the U.N. have panic rooms too, in case of, for example, a terrorist attack, for the protection of the visitors. While the benefits of a safe room seem relatively self-explanatory, there are certainly drawbacks as well. First of all, the costs of having one installed, even if there is sufficient space, can be incredibly high, since it requires special planning permission, and resources.
Generally these rooms are built to be very sturdy and strong, able to withstand a theoretical attempted break-in. Ventilation, storage and facilities have to be planned and accounted for, upping the price of construction even further. In today’s day and age, this kind of bunker-like room is hardly necessary for an every-day home, panic rooms have a long history. During the Second World War, a variation of them, bunkers, were very, very common and used during bomb alarms. They were only used for short time stays until the alarm and immediate threat was over. As such, they were much simpler and often intended for use by several people at once.
Modern panic rooms can usually hold between one person and a family, as they are more built to last for time rather than space, for example until help arrives in the form of police. These rooms often have an actual safe in them as well so that small items of value can be taken to safety as well.
