HispanicBusiness

I had no idea how big the survival biz was. But a few companies are taking the possibility of apocalypse seriously, and offering serious options for surviving it.

Think of these options as vacation homes - with more than a fire extinguisher for safety ...

* Vivos survival communities: The California company Vivos is planning a network of survival shelters in sites around America and the world. The shelters can accommodate from 400 to 900 people, and have everything you would want or need to live a regular, if hermetically sealed, life for up to a year, including pools, dentists, restaurants, etc.

It doesn't come cheap, but hey, can you put a value on having a future? For $50,000, you can get a bunk in a luxurious underground survival shelter (that's per person, but kids are only $35,000). The Indiana complex is ready for occupancy, and space is limited (of course it is). Vivos is taking Dec. 21 as a drop-dead deadline, and is working furiously to have other shelters up and running: They're working on sites in Nebraska and the Rockies, and pre-opening sales are reportedly brisk.

Or you can buy your own personal shelter, the Quantum, "a secure, turnkey solution, fully outfitted and furnished, like an affordable luxury yacht; only requiring you add food, fuel, water, clothing and your loved ones!" You can even put it in your favorite place (wonder if they ship to Paris?)

Info: terravivos.com.

* Survival Condo: Built in a former Atlas-F missile solo, the condo extends 200 feet below the earth's surface and boasts epoxy- hardened concrete walls to keep you safe from nuclear attack. The shelter is powered by solar panels, a generator and its own wind turbine. But the $1.75 million for a full-floor unit ($900,00 for a half floor) doesn't just buy you power and security. In fact, the first silo's pretty much sold out. The developers have begun work on their second site.

In addition to your condo's stainless steel GE appliances, Kohler bath fixtures and Jacuzzi tub, your new underground home will also come equipped with a full-size pool, spa, fitness room, library and movie theater. You'll dine on a diet of organic produce and homegrown fish fresh from the facility's state-of-the-art hydroponic and aquaculture center. And there's no reason to fear the anarchy outside your apocalyptic haven because Survival Condo's owner, Larry Hall, promises the silo will have a military grade security system - complete with lethal and non-lethal defense capabilities.

Info: Survivalcondo.com.

HIDEOUT/BAILOUT

I don't know how apocalypses actually work - and several scenarios have been posited for Dec. 21 - but I'm thinking if you were tucked away far enough, you might be able to avoid the process of eradication.

* Soudan Underground Mine State Park, Soudan, Minn.: It's the deepest place you can go into the earth in America - take an elevator down to the first landing and then an electric train to the deepest part of this old iron mine, which closed in 1962.

At the very bottom is a football-field-sized room that shelters a laboratory where physicists are looking for dark matter - there's lots of it in a mine - and are trying to measure the mass of a neutrino. Scheduled tours are over for the season, but group tours run year-round, so bring along all those loved ones with whom you