A UK estate agent has been blasted on Twitter for its apparent attempt to make a joke out of the North Korea crisis by publishing a map of property options “outside of a nuclear impact zone.”
The map accompanied a press release from online estate agent eMoov entitled, “Nuclear House hunting” and offered options for buyers “outside of a nuclear impact zone.”
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“A backyard nuclear bunker can be a cool addition to a property, but can also be a pain to construct so rather than hide away, homeowners can look to radiation-free pockets of the nation to save themselves the trouble,” the statement said.
The estate agent created a detailed map of the UK showing house hunters their “radiation free” options, combined with house prices and “blast impact” details.
“The chances of such an extensive nuclear strike are thankfully slim and this research is just a bit of fun, “ the statement concluded.
Russell Quirk founder of eMoov told RT.com that the map was “tongue in cheek” designed “to match the buffoon-like nature of the leaders involved.”
He said it wasn’t intended to be taken seriously, but acknowledged that it obviously had been by some.
Many Twitterati certainly didn’t see the funny side to the estate agent’s attempt at humor, and accused the firm of trying to exploit people’s fears of a nuclear crisis.
David Blyers, assistant editor at The Times of London newspaper, led the charge, calling it ”the worst press release ever.”
A disturbing amount of research seems to have gone into this
— Holly Black (@hollyblack_ltc) August 10, 2017
I think they had too much time to play with the nuclear blast app/website and then had a (not so) bright idea.
— Owain Thomas (@OTJournalist) August 10, 2017
Others added that the stunt had cleared up any lingering doubts that estate agents could be tasteful.
Well done Emoov, getting in there with this nuclear war & property press release, clearing up any lingering doubt estate agents are tasteful pic.twitter.com/aOd5gzZ0yc
— Pádraig Belton (@PadraigBelton) August 11, 2017
Others, however, went further and examined if the map was actually any good in terms of accuracy. It turned out that the creator didn’t take into account the military significance of targets, missing such obvious strategic locations as RAF Fylingdales, located 10 miles away from Whitby, marked “safe” on the map.
Not much research, Whitby is only a few miles from RAF Fylingdales, a first strike target, house prices would be buggered.
— John Usher (@jwusher) August 10, 2017
Buy a house in Barrow-in-Furness to escape nuclear war, because that’s definitely not where they make nuclear submarines https://t.co/00Z0IQb35H
— Jamie Hoyle (@mightyshakerjnr) August 10, 2017
US President Donald Trump recently fueled doomsday talk as he warned North Korea that it will be “met with fire and fury like the world has never seen,” if Pyongyang continues to threaten the US.
North Korea responded by announcing plans to fire missiles near the US territory of Guam.
Trump issued further threats to Pyongyang Friday stating that the US military was “locked and loaded” and ready to deal with North Korea.
Military solutions are now fully in place,locked and loaded,should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 11, 2017
