The government announced it would build over a thousand large underground shelters to protect people from "earthquakes and major fires." The shelters would be equipped with water, communications equipment and other supplies. The shelters could also be used in case of a nuclear war, but the government announcement did not mention that. The government announcement also didn't mention that an underground shelter is the last place you'd want to be after a major earthquake (because of the aftershocks) and that such shelters for fires is, at the very least, odd.