The is a great piece over on bldgblog about how Switzerland has rigged many of its key infrastructure points to blow in case it is invaded. Here's a snippet:
First, a quick look at the system of self-demolition that is literally built into the Swiss national infrastructure:
To interrupt the utility of bridges, tunnels, highways, railroads, Switzerland has established three thousand points of demolition. That is the number officially printed. It has been suggested to me that to approximate a true figure a reader ought to multiply by two. Where a highway bridge crosses a railroad, a segment of the bridge is programmed to drop on the railroad. Primacord fuses are built into the bridge. Hidden artillery is in place on either side, set to prevent the enemy from clearing or repairing the damage.
And this line later in the story makes me laugh:
The impending self-demolition of the country is "routinely practiced,"
Switzerland has more than 300,000 bunkers, enough to shelter all 7.6 million Swiss with one million places to spare. But two decades after the end of the Cold War, the Swiss government says it needs more.
A 1978 law requires every new building to have a bomb shelter, and even as the fears of Armageddon that spurred the original law are now a distant memory, the Swiss have been adding 50,000 new spots a year
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A Swiss shelter must withstand an impact of a 12-megaton explosion at a distance of 700 meters (765 yards).
Image form Darkroom Daze on Flickr
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