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Sent: Monday, May 12, 2008 Subject: Where to be During an Earthquake
Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a doorway??
Well, this guy has a completely reverse opinion. This is very interesting,
different from what we were all taught.
Directly opposite of what we've been taught over the years! I can remember in school being told to,
'duck and cover' or stand in a doorway during an earthquake. This guy's findings are absolutely amazing. I hope we all remember his survival method if we are ever in an earthquake!!!
EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON THE: 'TRIANGLE OF LIFE'
My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster
Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world's
most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save
lives in an earthquake.
I have crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with
rescue teams from
60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries,
and I am a member of many rescue teams from many countries..
I was the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for
two years. I
have worked at every major disaster in the world since
1985, except for simultaneous disasters.
The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in
Mexico City
during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its desk.
Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones. They could
have survived by lying down next to their desks in the aisles. It was
obscene, unnecessary and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I
didn't at the time know that the children were told to hide under something.
Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the
ceilings
falling upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these
objects, leaving
a space or void next to them. This space is what I call the
'triangle of
life'. The larger the object, the stronger, the less it
will compact. The
less the object compacts, the larger the void, the greater
the probability
that
the person who is using this void for safety will not be
injured. The next
time you watch collapsed buildings, on television, count
the 'triangles' you
see formed. They are everywhere. It is the most common
shape, you will see,
in a collapsed building.
TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY
1) Most everyone who simply 'ducks and covers' WHEN
BUILDINGS COLLAPSE are
crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks
or cars, are
crushed.
2) Cats, dogs and babies often naturally curl up in the
fetal position.
You should too in an earthquake.. It is a natural
safety/survival instinct.
You can survive in a smaller void. Get next to an object,
next to a sofa,
next to a large bulky object that will compress slightly
but leave a void
next to it.
3) Wooden buildings are the safest type of construction to
be in during
an earthquake. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of
the earthquake.
If the wooden building does collapse, large survival voids
are created.
Also, the wooden building has less concentrated, crushing
weight. Brick
buildings will break into individual bricks. Bricks will
cause many injuries
but less squashed bodies than concrete slabs.
4) If you are in bed during the night and an earthquake
occurs, simply
roll off the bed. A safe void will exist around the bed.
Hotels can achieve
a much greater survival rate in earthquakes, simply by
posting a sign on The
back of the door of every room telling occupants to lie
down on the floor,
next to the bottom of the bed during an earthquake.
5) If an earthquake happens and you cannot easily escape by
getting out the
door or window, then lie down and curl up in the fetal
position next to a
sofa, or large chair.
6) Most everyone who gets under a doorway when buildings
collapse is
killed. How? If you stand under a doorway and the doorjamb
falls forward or
backward you will be crushed by the ceiling above. If the
door jam falls
sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. In either
case, you will be
killed!
7) Never go to the stairs. The stairs have a different
'moment of
frequency' (they swing separately from the main part of
the building).
The stairs and remainder of the building continuously bump
into each
other until structural failure of the stairs takes place.
The people who get
on stairs before they fail are chopped up by the stair
treads - horribly
mutilated. Even if the building doesn't collapse, stay
away from the
stairs. The stairs are a likely part of the building to be
damaged. Even if
the stairs are not collapsed by the earthquake, they may
collapse later when
overloaded by fleeing people. They should always be checked
for safety, even
when the rest of the building is not damaged.
8) Get Near the Outer Walls Of Buildings Or Outside Of Them
If Possible
- It is much better to be near the outside of the building
rather than
the interior. The farther inside you are from the outside
perimeter of the
building the greater the probability that your escape route
will be
blocked.
9) People inside of their vehicles are crushed when the
road above falls
in an earthquake and crushes their vehicles; which is
exactly what happened
with the slabs between the decks of the Nimitz Freeway..
The victims of the
San Francisco earthquake all stayed inside of their
vehicles. They were all
killed. They could have easily survived by getting out and
sitting or lying
next to their vehicles. Everyone killed would have survived
if they had been
able to get out of their cars and sit or lie next to them.
All the crushed
cars had voids 3 feet high next to them, except for the
cars that had
columns fall directly across them.
10) I discovered, while crawling inside of collapsed
newspaper offices
and other offices with a lot of paper, that paper does not
compact.
Large voids are found surrounding stacks of paper.
Spread the word and save someone's life... The Entire
world is
experiencing natural calamities so be prepared!
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