{
  "id": "disaster/shelter-not-guaranteed-per-home",
  "signature": "AI tells someone that every home or apartment in Switzerland already has, or is guaranteed, its own ready-to-use nuclear/civil-defense shelter nearby",
  "signature_zh": "",
  "regex": "(switzerland.{0,30}(nuclear|fallout) shelter|swiss.{0,20}bunker|schutzraum.{0,20}schweiz)",
  "domain": "disaster",
  "category": "hazard_misjudgment",
  "subcategory": null,
  "root_cause": "Switzerland's Bevölkerungs- und Zivilschutzgesetz (BZG, SR 520.1) Art. 46 does set a national policy of one protected place per resident, and about 370,000 private and public shelters exist. But the obligation to build a private shelter (Schutzraumbaupflicht) has applied only to new residential buildings of 38+ units since a 2012 reform; smaller developments and most existing older or newer small buildings have no shelter of their own, and the owner may instead pay a CHF 1,400-per-place replacement levy (Ersatzabgabe, BZG Art. 46/47) that funds public shelters elsewhere. BABS itself documents 'cantonal differences and local gaps,' especially in city centers and growing areas. Assigned personal shelter spots are also not pre-communicated in peacetime - allocation happens only if the security situation requires it.",
  "root_cause_type": "generic",
  "root_cause_zh": "",
  "versions": [
    {
      "version": "any",
      "introduced": null,
      "deprecated": null,
      "removed": null,
      "behavior_change": null,
      "status": "active"
    }
  ],
  "os_specific": {},
  "dead_ends": [
    {
      "action": "Assume any specific apartment building or house in Switzerland has its own private nuclear/civil-defense shelter simply because Swiss law guarantees 'one shelter place per resident' nationally",
      "why_fails": "Since the Federal Council's 2012 revision, the private shelter-building obligation (Schutzraumbaupflicht) under BZG Art. 46 applies only when constructing residential buildings with at least 38 apartments; smaller buildings are routinely exempted on payment of a CHF 1,400-per-place replacement levy (Ersatzabgabe) that funds public shelters instead, so a typical single-family home or small apartment block built after 2012 has no on-site shelter at all, and older small buildings are not retrofitted.",
      "fail_rate": 0.75,
      "condition": "Buildings with fewer than 38 residential units, especially built or renovated after 2012",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.babs.admin.ch/de/schutzraeume",
        "https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2020/887/de"
      ]
    },
    {
      "action": "Tell someone they already know, or can find out in advance, exactly which shelter they are assigned to in peacetime, the way a fire-evacuation plan works",
      "why_fails": "BABS states shelter places are allocated ('zugewiesen') only if the security-policy situation requires it - there is no standing peacetime personal assignment communicated to residents by default, so someone expecting a pre-known personal shelter number will not find one until authorities actually activate the allocation process during a crisis.",
      "fail_rate": 0.5,
      "condition": "Peacetime, no active civil-protection emergency declared",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.babs.admin.ch/de/schutzraeume"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds": [
    {
      "action": "Ask the building administration/owner (Verwaltung) or the communal civil protection office (Zivilschutzstelle) whether the specific building has a registered private shelter, and where the nearest public shelter is, rather than assuming coverage",
      "success_rate": 0.8,
      "how": "Cantonal civil protection offices maintain shelter registers; residents can also consult cantonal pages (e.g. Kanton Zug, Aargau, Thurgau civil-protection shelter pages) that list public shelter locations by municipality.",
      "condition": "Wants to know actual, current shelter coverage for a specific address",
      "sources": [
        "https://www.babs.admin.ch/de/schutzraeume"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "workarounds_zh": [],
  "transition_graph": {
    "leads_to": [],
    "preceded_by": [],
    "frequently_confused_with": [
      "emergency/112-117-118-144/ch"
    ]
  },
  "official_doc_url": null,
  "official_doc_section": null,
  "error_code": null,
  "verification_tier": "ai_generated",
  "confidence": 0.65,
  "fix_success_rate": 0.75,
  "resolvable": "true",
  "first_seen": "2026-09-14",
  "last_confirmed": "2026-09-14",
  "last_updated": "2026-09-14",
  "evidence_count": 3,
  "tags": [],
  "locale": "en",
  "aliases": [
    "disaster/shelter-not-guaranteed-per-home/ch"
  ]
}