Liu Qiyuan, a Chinese farmer from the village of Qiantun in northern Hebei Province, located just south of Beijing, has built what he describes as “Noah’s Ark” survival pods in case of a cataclysmic event.
Liu was inspired by the blockbuster film “2012” and the massive earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Indonesia and Thailand in 2004 and killed hundreds of thousands, reported AFP.
He hopes that his circular pods are adopted by government agencies and international organizations in the event of earthquakes and tsunamis.
His seven pods, which are airtight, are made out of a fiberglass shell wrapped around a steel frame. They are able to float on water. Some of them even have their own propulsion device installed.
They also come complete with oxygen tanks and can hold as many as 14 people.
The Dec. 21, 2012, Mayan prophecy, which some people have interpreted as the end of the world, struck a nerve with ordinary Chinese after the “2012” film gained popularity there in 2009.
Last month, it was reported that Lu Zhenghai, a man from Xinjiang, spent some $150,000 dollars to build his own “Noah’s Ark”-like vessel. According to the Daily Mail tabloid, he spend his entire life savings on constructing the ship.
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A worker stands beside a survival pod. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
Liu Qiyuan sits inside one of seven survival pods. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
Incomplete survival pods sit in Liu's workshop. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
Workers reposition one of the pods . (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
Liu secures a hatch inside one his pods. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
Liu poses among his survival pods. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
Liu Qiyuan and his daughter sit inside one of his pods. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
Liu looks out from inside. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
(Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
