Shelters part of long-term civil defense plan

Shanghai leaders stress the date of 2012 is purely a coincidence

SHANGHAI - A 15-second-long piece of news broadcast on a local television channel has raised the uneasy question of whether the municipal government is anticipating some calamitous natural disasters in 2012.

A short news segment on Dragon TV disclosed that the construction of up to three underground emergency shelters will be completed by 2012. The segment touched the nerves of many people who, apparently, fear the premise of the Hollywood movie 2012 that the world will end by then.