What does a phone call, a video and a $48,000 bunker have in common?

Increased sales of duct tape and plastic sheeting has ushered in an era of new or reconstituted household goods and services designed not only to soothe feelings of vulnerability, uncertainty and fear about terrorism and war, but also, purportedly, to actually do something about your predicament.

A special phone call, an educational video and a super bunker for the price of a home addition are among the new goods and services.

The American Psychological Association (APA) in "Resilience In A Time of War" says it's always better to do something meaningful to address your fears than it is to cower and stuff your head in the sand.

Keep in mind, however, that along with truly useful products and services, the new Market of Fear offers a host of bombs designed solely to make a buck by preying upon your fears.

To maintain a perspective, don't rush to buy, use common sense and you'll discover in many cases you can spend a lot less duplicating the promised results of even well-intended goods and services.

Here are some examples.

Tell 20 people

For an $18.95 annual subscription and $6.95 for one special phone call to a service called "OneFastCall" you can let as many as 20 people know you are OK -- or maybe not so OK -- after some unexpected event.

The service offers a quick way to reach many people who may be worried about you after a terrorist attack, natural disaster or some other unwelcomed event hits your home, neighborhood or community.

Any family or other group can share the cost of the subscription and pre-load up to 20 phone numbers into a call list. If an emergency arises, a family or group member nearest the disaster dials a toll-free number and records a voice message of up to two minutes describing their situation and condition. The OneFastCall system then dials the numbers of everyone on the call list and plays back the recorded message to each. If there is no answer, the message will be recorded on voicemail or an answering machine -- provided one is available.

The service can also be used in non-emergency situations, say to announce holiday gatherings, birthday party invitations, family reunions and other group celebrations.

Theoretically, with today's technology and just a little more effort, anyone could set up their own similar network and a system to broadcast fax, bulk e-mail or cell-phone speed-dial members of a group. Greeting card Web sites, online party invitation sites and meeting announcement sites, like Evite.com and WebX.com perform similar functions.

OneFastCall or any such operation assumes the wired telephone system will still be working after a disaster or that everyone on the list has a cell phone.

APA and emergency preparedness experts and agencies suggest all families develop some sort of system to contact others in time of emergencies and in recent history, the cell phone has been invaluable -- an in some cases a cheaper alternative to home-based phone.

Be prepared

Likewise, everybody should have and employ instructions from the free American Red Cross' "Your Family Disaster Plan" a tried and true blueprint for disaster survival. And now, "Protect Your Family" is designed to add to your emergency preparedness plan early-warning savvy about attacks from weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

Few if any independent reviews exist of the video tape ($19.95) or DVD ($24.95), but according to the ProtectionForAmerica Web site selling the video, it was created "by the top experts in Israel" and allegedly "used to train over 500,000 individuals."

Called an educational guide to the dangers of WMDs from from anthrax to viral agents, the video offers instructions on how to cope beyond buying duct tape and plastic sheeting. It offers step-by-step instructions for detecting an attack, for giving first-aid, for purchasing protective gear, and for creating an effective shelter in your home and workplace.

Information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) discounts some of the video's information and offers its own set of steps households should take to prepare for WMD attacks (yes, duct tape and plastic sheeting is part of the government's suggested plan) and other concerns.

The "Protect Your Family" video packages much information into one reel, but if you already have Internet access, there's a wealth of related information available from government Web sites including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and non-profits such as GlobalSecurity.Org.

Your public library also remains a bastion of free information the reference librarian will track down for you.

Buy a bunker

FEMA offers free plans for a $6,000 safe room addition or retrofit that can keep out all but the nastiest of storms, but if you want to really give the hunkered down Joneses something to keep up with, consider a $48,000 bunker the U.S. military is showing some attention.

That's what it will cost to repel terrorists' attacks, bombs and WMDs.

"Your home can physically fall on top of the unit and there would be no more problems than a scratch on the paint," boasts designer Jorge Villa, a University of Miami mechanical engineering graduate with majors in civil and industrial engineering.

Villa's Homestead, FL-based U.S. Bunkers offers a diamond shaped 13- to 18-ton, water tight, fireproof, rustproof, bulletproof shelter, the Multi Purpose Platform Bunker (MPPB), made of 1/4- to 3/4-inch rebar reinforced concrete, steel, a super mix of polymer fibers and a "boat-like" Fiberglas interior.

That's tough enough to repel hulking in-laws.

An above-ground Guardian model, starting at a cool $34,500, looks like a bulked-up moon lander with hefty steel supports. A foot thick, seamless and windowless, the bunkers can be tripped out with host of features including an air ventilation system, biochemical filters, heat/air conditioning, video surveillance with a monitor/TV and VHS recorder/player, 12 and 120 volt lights and outlets, cable, phone and Internet hookups, battery-backed solar panels, water and fuel tanks, refrigerator, portable potty, first aid kit, an electric entryway and escape hatch. Power pack will run the ventilation system for 12 hours or more after a power failure. Add benches, beds, desks and shelving and it's home sweet survival home.

With an interior diameter of 9 feet, a height of 6 feet 4 inches, the shelters offer 76 square feet of living space designed to hold six adults. The company also offers a below ground model and the shelter can be outfitted for for residential, industrial, medical, marine, communications and military uses.

When you aren't under attack, the bunker can double as a playhouse, sauna-steam room, temporary guest quarters or a hide-out from the bill collector and the crane necessary to repossess it.

Until the bunkers are as common as conventional home additions, added resale value isn't certain, but you really can't measure this kind of potentially invaluable protection in terms of added home value.

A bunker brochure is free for the asking.

"At this point even the military are looking at it for security, command centers, intensive care units, communication centers, headquarters and much more," said Villa.

Hoo Haaaa!

Published: April 24, 2003

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Broderick Perkins parlayed a career in old-school journalism into a contemporary digital news service that really hits home. The award-winning consumer journalist, originally from Wilmington, DE, is founder, publisher and executive editor of the bootstrap DeadlineNews Group, a Silicon Valley-based editorial content and consulting service specializing in residential real estate, consumer news and related editorial consulting services. The DeadlineNews Group includes the website, DeadlineNews.com, offering real estate editorial content and consulting services, and its back shop, the Deadline Newsroom, an open house on news that really hits home. Perkins obtained his formal journalism education from University of Delaware and a journalism boot camp, the Institute of Journalism Education at the University of California-Berkeley. He went on to 20 years of service as a daily newspaper journalist at the Wilmington, DE News Journal and San Jose, CA Mercury News. Perkins covered housing on the San Jose Mercury News reporting team which earned a General News Reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake. He has also produced real estate, consumer and small business content for the Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, RealtyTimes.com, Nolo.com, Better Homes and Gardens, the National Association of Realtors, Homestore/Move and Intuit/Quicken among more than three dozen publications. In addition to managing the DeadlineNews Group, Perkins most recently served as chief editorial consultant for Nolo's Essential Guide To Buying Your First Home, Nolo, and writes real estate television scripts for RealtyTimes.com.