Tuesday, December 11, 2012 11:37:00 AM | by v-nihill
Ready for the end of the world
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People all over the world, motivated by religion or science, take extreme steps to prepare for the end of the world. Here, members of the Southwick family in Utah demonstrate their readiness to survive a biological attack. Learn more about end-of-the-world readiness by watching 'Doomsday Preppers' Tuesday evenings on the National Geographic Channel.
National Geographic Channels
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Taja Braxton, 16, wears equipment to keep infections at bay. Taja is featured on the National Geographic Channel show 'Doomsday Preppers.'
National Geographic Channels
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Bruce Beach of Ontario, Canada, looks down a shaft in his underground shelter. Beach has been anticipating the end of the world for nearly 50 years and has built an underground bunker out of 43 full-size school buses, which he calls the Ark Two.
Sharp Entertainment/NGC
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Everyone in Bruce Beach's Ark Two is on a 12-hour on/off sleep cycle.
Sharp Entertainment/NGC
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Members of the Nash family in Utah show off the protective gear they would wear should the world fall victim to a pandemic.
Sharp Entertainment
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Peter Larson enjoys downtime with his family in their underground bunker, which they use as a weekend getaway. Larson is prepping for a post-nuclear holocaust world. He has built a bunker that can hold 12 of his family members.
National Geographic Channel
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Paul Range has stockpiled 50,000 pounds of food in case the North and South Poles swap places, resulting in dramatic climate changes and natural disasters.
Sharp Entertainment/Corey Wascinski
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Paul Range built his house — a fortress, really — out of nine shipping containers. He feels the design will be easier to defend than a traditional house.
Sharp Entertainment/Corey Wascinski
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Paul Range's shipping container fortress in Texas.
Sharp Entertainment/Corey Wascinski
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Paul Range feeds his livestock. He keeps animals to eat in case food becomes scarce.
National Geographic Channel/Sharp Entertainment
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Paul Range and Gloria Haswell stand in the entrance to their rural Texas fortress.
National Geographic Channel/Sharp Entertainment
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The Vivos group manages a community of underground shelters that can withstand a nuclear blast and are ready for a variety of end-of-the-world scenarios. This is the above-ground portion of one of the shelters.
Rex Features
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A drawing of the main living area in a Vivos shelter.
Rex Features
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The village of Bugarach, France, viewed from the highest point of the Corbieres massif. Surrounded in legend for centuries, Bugarach has become a focal point for many apocalypse believers as rumors have circulated that its mountain contains doors into other worlds. Residents of the tiny hamlet, population 194, are witness to a rising influx of doomsday believers.
Jean-Philippe Arles/Reuters
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The village of Bugarach sits near the peak of Bugarach in France's Corbieres massif mountain range. Some doomsday theories designate the peak as a sacred place that will be spared on Dec. 21, 2012, which markes the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar, a 5,126-year era — and some say marks the end of the world.
Rex Features
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Members of a doomsday cult are helped by a representative of local authorities, center, in the settlement of Nikolskoye.
Denis Sinyakov/Reuters
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Cooking utensils sit in an underground hideout where members of a doomsday cult had been barricading themselves outside the settlement of Nikolskoye in Russia in 2008.
Denis Sinyakov/Reuters
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A woman with a child walks in front of another fellow member, in red, of a doomsday cult in Russia as they leave their bunker.
Denis Sinyakov/Reuters
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The company that makes Axe body spray claims to be preserving the DNA of the hottest women in the brand's history. They say they want the DNA of the brand's models to survive the predicted end of the world on Dec. 21.
Rex Features
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A doomsday group called Pana Wave Laboratory drapes its camp in Japan with white sheets in 'protection against electromagnetic waves.' The group predicted the world would be devastated by natural disasters on May 15, 2003.
Eriko Sugita/Newscom/RTR
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The Pana Wave Laboratory group faded into obscurity when their dire predictions turned out to be false.
Eriko Sugita/Newscom/RTR
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Gary Bryant of Missouri is building an underground shelter for his animals in preparation of a series of devastating tornadoes.
National Geographic Channels
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Robert Earl of Alpine, Texas, is collecting supplies to build a home out of recyclable materials. He and his wife fear the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and are building a sustainable homestead.
National Geographic Channels
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Lara O. of Pennsylvania practices shooting a rifle from her kitchen. She and her family are afraid of radioactive fallout from a nuclear power plant.
National Geographic Channels
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Tom Perez of Houston, standing in front a freshly skinned animal that was killed by his sons, plans to be ready in the event of a terrorist attack.
National Geographic Channels
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Steven Vanasse checks for radiation near his Houston home several times a month. He works for a company that assesses contaminated sites throughout Texas, and he fear the possibility of radiation from a dirty bomb.
National Geographic Channels
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Allen and his neighbor Franco have a friendly rivalry. Each believes he is more ready for doomsday than his neighbor. They have their own aquaponic systems and maintain gardens and greenhouses in order to create a self-sustainable lifestyle.
National Geographic Channels
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Allen and Franco discuss possible improvements to their aquaponic systems. They want to be ready for a possible breakdown of the world food system.
National Geographic Channels
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Mike Mesters of Dacula, Ga., fears economic collapse will bring violence and rioting. To prepare, he involves his whole family in stockpiling food, fuel and weapons.
Sharp Entertainment/Corey Wascinski
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Doug Huffman of California peeks out of his spider hole one last time before sealing it shut and closing off a world he feels is heading for a second great depression.
Sharp Entertainment/Marc Kroll
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Janet Spencer of Helena, Mont., stores food on the back of her bookshelves.
Sharp Entertainment/Tim Metzger
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Massachusetts couple Kathy and Bruce gather honey, a sustainable food source. The couple have resources like honey and firewood to barter in the event of a massive earthquake.
National Geographic Channels/Sharp Entertainment
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Michael Douglas of Augusta, Maine, dries an animal skin. The Douglas family has learned survival skills like hunting, gathering food and building shelter.
Sharp Entertainment/Brett Wiley
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John Adrain is a successful inventor living in the Pacific Northwest who fears a wide range of disasters. Here, he prepares for a security drill.
National Geographic Channels
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John Adrain's compound is a a technological safe haven, complete with shatterproof windows and a military-grade gate.
National Geographic Channels
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Jeff Bushaw and his son Hayden, of Vacouver, Wash., are preparing for the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano.
National Geographic Channels
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Ryan Croft of North Carolina traps field mice for dinner. Croft hopes to expand his small group of doomsday preppers into a citywide movement that could thrive in the aftermath of a worldwide crisis.
National Geographic Channels
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Ryan Croft, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, designed a gun that is a cross between an AK-47 and an AR-15.
National Geographic Channels
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Bob Kay, center, and his daughter Alexis, right, stock up on freeze-dried food. Kay, of California, fears a massive earthquake will cause unprecedented destruction to the environment. He has planted hundreds of edible plants on his property and is training his 12-year-old daughter in self-defense tactics.
National Geographic Channels
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Brian Murdock believes World War III is imminent, but he isn't waiting for disaster to strike. He has purchased a 10-acre plot of land in upstate New York, where he will live in a motor home with his fiancee, Tatiana.
National Geographic Channels
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Brian Murdock's property in upstate New York is his haven from a war he fears is imminent.
National Geographic Channels
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Bryan May showcases his weapons. His wife, Lacey, has her own, including a pink rifle. The Mays, of Indiana, want to be ready for a massive earthquake, which they think will leave much of the United States underwater.
National Geographic Channels
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Bryan May has food stockpiled in case a massive earthquake floods much of the United States.
National Geographic Channels
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Megan Hurwitt of Houston is preparing for a catastrophic oil crisis she thinks will cripple the United States. Megan is planning to join the Armed Forces to further her training.
National Geographic Channel/Sharp Entertainment
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Christopher Nyegres, of Los Angeles, has trained himself to live off what the land provides.
National Geographic Channel/Sharp Entertainment
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Christopher Nyegres demonstrates starting a fire without matches.
National Geographic Channel/Sharp Entertainment
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The McClung family in Arizona converted their pool into an aquaponic greenhouse so that they can have a self-sufficient food supply.
National Geographic Channel
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The McClung family grows food in what used to be their pool.
National Geographic Channel
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Peter Larson stands in the hatch of his underground bunker. During the Cold War, his father dug bomb shelters for people in their community but wasn’t able to afford one of his own. Larson wanted to one day own his own shelter.
Sharp Entertainment
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Scott Hunt stands next to a diesel truck that he has converted to be able to run on wood. He can also use it as a generator.
Sharp Entertainment
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In Austin, a retired Army sergeant gives a demonstration of how he prepares for an electromagnetic pulse. 'Mr. Wayne' — who asks that his identity not be disclosed — began preparing for the worst as soon as Jimmy Carter was elected president.
Sharp Entertainment/NGC
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In Washington, single dad Barry Knowles reveals a secret hatch leading to a bunker underneath his house. He has been prepping for doomsday for two years. He also sells underground shelters like the one in his own garage.
Sharp Entertainment/NGC
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California’s sunny climate makes it easy for the Dervaes family to grow nearly all of their food on an eighth of an acre.
Sharp Entertainment/Corey Wascinski
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Jason Charles is always ready to bug out of his cramped New York City apartment. Charles, a firefighter, stays ready for the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano by storing ready-to-eat-meals and water in his apartment.
Sharp Entertainment/Marc Kroll
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Pat Brabble has a secret room in his Ahoskie, N.C., barn that is full of guns, ammo and plenty of alcohol. Brabble doesn’t drink, but believes that in an America gone mad, hard liquor will be the new dollar.
Sharp Entertainment
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Pat Brabble shows off his doomsday-ready food stores in his Ahoskie, N.C., home.
Sharp Entertainment/Corey Wascinski
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Tim Ralston of California worries a foreign power may hit the United States with an electromagnetic pulse that disables the electrical grid and throws people into a panic. He looks inside a shipping container and considers setting up a survival location in the Arizona desert.
Description:
People all over the world, motivated by religion or science, take extreme steps to prepare for the end of the world. Here, members of the Southwick family in Utah demonstrate their readiness to survive a biological attack. Learn more about end-of-the-world readiness by watching 'Doomsday Preppers' Tuesday evenings on the National Geographic Channel.
Description:
Taja Braxton, 16, wears equipment to keep infections at bay. Taja is featured on the National Geographic Channel show 'Doomsday Preppers.'
Description:
Bruce Beach of Ontario, Canada, looks down a shaft in his underground shelter. Beach has been anticipating the end of the world for nearly 50 years and has built an underground bunker out of 43 full-size school buses, which he calls the Ark Two.
Description:
Peter Larson enjoys downtime with his family in their underground bunker, which they use as a weekend getaway. Larson is prepping for a post-nuclear holocaust world. He has built a bunker that can hold 12 of his family members.
Description:
Paul Range has stockpiled 50,000 pounds of food in case the North and South Poles swap places, resulting in dramatic climate changes and natural disasters.