Few of the wealthy expatriates living in the lap of luxury in Dubai could have foreseen Iranian air strikes suddenly targeting the city, yet many of them already had secure shelters waiting and ready to use. The extreme wealth concentrated in the United Arab Emirates means that countless high-end private residences owned by billionaires, entrepreneurs, and influencers come equipped with futuristic safe rooms, panic shelters, and reinforced underground spaces as standard features. According to the Daily Mail, these installations often carry price tags running well into the millions of dollars. It is a level of preparedness that, until recently, most of their owners never imagined they would actually need.
Given Dubai’s historically low violent crime rate, where even minor theft can result in severe legal penalties, it is widely believed that many of these fortified spaces had never once been used before this past weekend. Hiding from missile strikes was certainly not on the minds of the ultra-wealthy when they originally had these structures built into their properties. Everything changed when strikes hit Dubai Airport and luxury hotels including Fairmont The Palm and the Burj Al Arab without warning, leaving parts of the city’s iconic skyline engulfed in flames. Precautions that were originally designed against threats like kidnappings or armed break-ins suddenly found an entirely new and urgent purpose.
Some of the most expensive private estates in the city are fitted with comparable security systems. The Marble Palace in the Emirates Hills neighborhood, which sold last year for approximately $108 million, is reported to contain several blast-resistant rooms as well as its own independent power substation. Dubai-based Argus Security specializes in custom-built, explosion-resistant safe rooms and concealed chambers designed to withstand violent assaults, including direct fire from AK-47 rifles at close range. Rooms like these, originally conceived as protection against criminal threats, are now serving as genuine refuges from rocket fire in a way nobody anticipated.
@thebloomingman Alhamdullah the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, ksa and Bahrain are all ok, you haters find something els to do #ebraheemdubaibling #thebloomingman #ebraheemAlsamadi ♬ original sound – andrew_wave
For residents without purpose-built fortified rooms, the modern fully-equipped gyms commonly installed in the basements of luxury properties have become makeshift shelters. Many five-star hotels have also been directing guests into protected interior areas away from windows during the attacks. The fact that so many of Dubai’s wealthiest residents had these underground spaces already available proved fortunate, even if the circumstances under which they are being used are far from what anyone planned.
Zabeel Palace, the official residence of Dubai’s ruling Al Maktoum family, is considered one of the most heavily fortified structures in the entire Emirates. The royal estate, guarded around the clock by armed security personnel, is believed to house several state-of-the-art safe rooms accessible at the push of a button, along with a fully independent power supply that could sustain the royal household safely for weeks. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum made a point of demonstrating calm amid the crisis by appearing publicly at the Dubai Mall earlier this week, a gesture that prompted many of the city’s wealthiest residents to take to social media to express their confidence in both him and the UAE’s military forces.
Ebraheem Al Samadi, a Kuwaiti-American entrepreneur and star of the Netflix reality series ‘Dubai Bling’ whose net worth is estimated at around $47.5 million, shared a video from his underground gym with his 1.2 million followers, reassuring everyone that those around him were safe. Former Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand also revealed that he, his wife Kate, and their youngest children had sheltered in their basement after feeling the impact of what he described as “terrifying” rocket strikes close to their home. Kate Ferdinand addressed her followers on Instagram shortly after, writing “Thank you for all the messages and sorry for the silence, I didn’t want to worry you all, I just couldn’t find the right words. We are safe.” She added that “The government is doing an incredible job to keep it that way and, despite my nerves, I feel like we are in very safe hands. I am hoping for a calmer night, last night was very scary. Although Cree and Shae enjoyed it as they couldn’t believe we were all sleeping in the basement together.”
Louisa Zissman, another public figure residing in the UAE, shared her own experience of being outdoors with her children when she heard four explosions on Sunday and immediately rushed them to safety inside. She described the situation as “surreal and terrifying” but said she trusted the UAE’s defense systems to protect residents. Zissman mentioned that several of her friends had been sleeping in their basements with their children, and while she had not yet done so herself, she prepared a makeshift emergency space in her own basement complete with a dog gate, blankets, and water in the fridge, saying she wanted to be ready just in case.
Dubai is one of the world’s wealthiest cities and serves as the most populous city in the UAE, home to the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. The Emirates Hills area, where the Marble Palace is located, is often compared to Beverly Hills and is considered among the most exclusive residential communities on earth. Safe rooms, or panic rooms, became increasingly popular among wealthy homeowners globally after high-profile kidnapping cases in the 1990s and early 2000s, and are now a common feature in ultra-luxury real estate markets from New York to London to the Gulf region. The UAE has one of the most advanced air defense systems in the Middle East, including Patriot missile batteries operated in cooperation with American forces stationed in the region.
Feel free to share your thoughts on the situation in Dubai in the comments.
