Having adequate shelter is  one  of the important things to ensure the  safety of you and your family.  These shelters will protect you from natural disasters such  as Fire, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Earthquakes and  man-made disasters, such as nuclear, biological or chemical attacks.  In times of civil uprising, riots, looting and other things demand that you have a safe shelter in which to store your  food, supplies and comfortably house your family until it is safe outside.

I have reviewed a number of shelters designed to provide  specific levels of protection for determined periods of time (based on number of occupants).  You should review them and determine which will fit your budget and your particular needs for surviving the emergency your family is faced with.

Perhaps one of the best examples of a do it yourself shelter I've ever seen is the ARK-II shelter which was constructed out of  a series of  school buses connected together to provide underground shelter and protect it's shelterists from whatever may come their way.

You can make shelters out of most anything commonly found.  The most typical is a basement shelter, but you must understand, the basement itself does not provide adequate protection and must be reinforced to help block out nuclear radiation (which seems to be the biggest threat we face today).

To do this you need to create  a 'room within a room' by building a concrete block room in the  basement, I would suggest at least 2 feet thick to shield you from  radiation. make it big enough to house all occupants comfortably plus your food and water and other  shelter  supplies.

Earthen shelters can be as simple as a a deep hole or trench that has reinforced walls to avoid cave-ins and at least 4-6 feet of earth on the top of it to shield you from radiation.  In ALL shelters ventilation is the  most  important concern, providing adequate filtered airflow will  ensure that there is no buildup of deadly carbon dioxide and also to maintain the  temperature in the shelter, all the people in the shelter will raise the  temperature because each body is giving off heat which must be  dispersed through the  shelter or  it's going get HOT quick.