NASA and the world are preparing for the end of the world. In France, World War II bunkers have been opened. In China, people are getting days off from work. In Russia, people have stacked up on matches, fuel, and sugar. And in Turkey, the town of Sirince is getting ready for the arrival of Noah’s ark, reports the German ZDF on Dec. 11, 2012.

The end of the world in Turkey

According to legend, (or maybe a rumor), the people in Sirince will be able to survive the end of the world and a new flood because a modern version of Noah’s ark will appear near the town and take some chosen ones on board. Sirince’s hotel owners have reported that rooms are booked out for the time around Dec. 21, 2012.

The end of the world in France and Germany

To face the end of the world in a hotel room in Turkey’s Sirince would be certainly much more comfortable than in the World War II bunker Schoenenbourg in France’s Alsace. The bunker is available for shelter for merely seven Euros and the cost includes wine and bread.

Other private bunkers have been opened and some believe that a bunker provides a chance to survive the end of the world. Karl Hillinger, a German professional bunker expert, reports that air filter systems, bread in cans, and energy bars are currently high in demand.

The best chances for surviving the end of the world, however, are further south in France in Bugarach, a small village near the southern French Pyrenees on the border to Spain. The small village of Bugarach which has a population of 200 people is expecting from 20,000 to 100,000 refugees for the end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012. Bugarach is said to be spared from the end of the world because the 1,230-meter-high mountain Pic de Bugarach resembles the alien landing site from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Bugarach’s mayor Jean-Pierre Delord has told the daily newspaper Figaro that “It’s like a zoo here. The people are coming to see us. We’ve become the attraction in the area.”

The end of the world in Australia and Russia

In Australia, Prime Minister Julia Gillard confronted the end of the world topic by making a television appearance. “The end of the world is coming … It turns out the Mayan calendar was true … Whether the final blow comes from flesh-eating zombies, demonic hell beasts or from the total triumph of K-Pop, if you know one thing about me, it’s this: I will always fight for you to the very end.”

Unlike Australia’s Prime Minister’s lighthearted approach, Russian officials are taking the end of the world a little bit more serious. Since people in Russia are stacking up on emergency supplies like matches, fuel, and sugar, Russia’s Minister of Emergency Situations, Vladimir Puchkov, issued a statement insisting that “the world would not end this month, a sentiment echoed by senior clerics from the nation’s Orthodox Church,” reported The Independent.

The end of the world in China

In China, China.org reports that “Chinese Internet users are vigorously discussing their unfulfilled dreams and reflecting on the meaning of life as ‘the end of the world’ draws near.”

It appears that China’s legacy of philosophy, history, and traditions will last until the end of the world. Many internet posts in China include “an epitaph, a wish list, or a sentence expressing their thoughts about life… The wishes range from making breakfast for parents to becoming a superman to save the world. But most are everyday matters to do with family and friends, and are full of love, faith and hope.”

Some Chinese companies are giving their employees extra days off on Dec. 20, 2012, and Dec. 21, 2012. While most people will agree with the fact that it is better to be safe than sorry and take the day off for the end of the world, others in China are taking the end of the world much more seriously.

In the Chinese Sichuan Province, a panic of buying candles has swept the area. Lu Zheghai in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region “spent his life savings to build an ark for 20 people in order to survive flooding on the day.”

Well prepared for the end of the world are also scammers. While in China swindlers have robbed people of their savings by selling them “good-luck tokens at sky-high prices,” insurance agents in Dresden, Europe, are selling end of the world insurance packages.

The end of the world in the home of the Mayan calendar

In Central and South America where the original prophecy of the end of the world comes from due to the ending of the Mayan calendar on Dec. 21, 2012, end of the world preparations are also under way.

In the far south of Brazil, the mayor of the mountain town San Francisco de Paula has urged local residents to stock up on supplies in preparation for the worst. In the Yucatan, Mexico, however, a cultural festival is planned for Dec. 21, 2012. The Yucatan is still home to a very large Mayan population and many visitors from around the world can still witness the magic of the Mayan temples throughout the Yucatan.

The end of the world from outer space

Preparing for the end of the world is not only left to the inhabitants of earth but also to those people who are specialists about the universe. NASA and other institutions like the Beijing Planetarium and the Astronomical Society of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have taken action in preparation for the end of the world.

From a cosmic point of view, it is more likely that the end of the world would occur because of some cosmic event than some earthly event like the ending of the Mayan calendar.

Xia Xueluan, a professor of sociology at the Peking University, said that “We’ve lived through several so-called doomsdays in the past decade … people take satisfaction in talking about them.”

In preparation for the end of the world on Dec. 21, 2012, NASA has released a web page withFrequently Asked Questions about the end of the world and a video for Dec. 22, 2012; the day after the end of the world.

It appears that the topic of the end of the world should become a topic discussed not just by scientists or people getting ready for the end of the world but by everyone. Not because the world will most likely not actually end on the day of “the end of the world” but because there has never been a better time to learn so much about countries, their history, their philosophies, and their values as in the way that each country faces the end of the world.

Most importantly though, discussing the topic of the end of the world is a reminder of what it means to be human and what really matters in life.

One of the Chinese internet posts made by a man called “Red Sun” states that “he plans to quit his job and find employment in his hometown so he can spend more time with his 70-year-old father. He said the ‘apocalypse’ forecast had helped him make up his mind … In the past, I thought I still had plenty of time to weigh pros and cons; now I know time waits for no man.”

“Time waits for no man.” Maybe humanity won’t need the end of the world to learn that lesson after all.

Related Articles:

Apocalypse: Will the end of the world happen on Dec. 21, 2012, or Dec. 23, 2012?

End of the world: Liu Qiyuan fulfills promise to his daughter, builds capsule