Netizens vote on China's best refuges in 2012 apocalyptic scenario

The movie "2012" popularized the Mayan prophecy that the world would end on that year, and now "2012" has become synonymous with disaster. Recently, Chinese netizens voted on China's best refuges when "2012" comes.

In last few days, netizens on douban.com have actively discussed the so-called "coming disasters" and potential safe havens from dangers.

A netizen nicknamed Wang Dapa organized a douban group and claimed that they were going to build a Noah's Ark. They are recruiting members for the Ark openly. Netizens who want to apply for these posts have to write down their names, what age they will be in 2012, what they love, their weaknesses and what they would like to do on the Noah's Ark.

Netizen "Sky" established a group of "Taking Refuge Plans Research Institute."And he said that 2012 might not be the end of the world, we could take a few days off work for trip in a safest place. Regarding where are the best refuge cities in China in 2012, "Sky" initiated a poll on the Internet.

Some netizens voted for Zhengzhou because it is located in the middle of China and not on a seismic belt.

Apart from Zhengzhou, Lhasa, Lanzhou and Xi'an were top choices for netizens.

A netizens also summarized three major criteria by which to judge the safest city. First, it should not be on a domestic seismic belt or circum-Pacific seismic zone. Second, no earthquakes and other natural disasters, including floods, have hit in last 50 to 100 years. Third, the geographical elevation should be higher than 500 to 1,000 meters. According to this standard, Zhengzhou meets two of them.

As of now, there are at least 13 groups with more than 50 members each talking about "2012," and there are about 400,000 topics related to disasters in Baidu's "2012 bar."

By Wang Hanlu, People's Daily Online