How to survive in an Earthquake

[The Rob 14]

Thought this might be interesting for those of you who live in California or other Earthquake prone places! It seems logical to me.

Robert

Subject: How to survive in an Earthquake

This makes very interesting reading. It goes against everything

you've probably been told about how to survive an earthquake. In

this time of earthquakes, tsunamis, mud slides etc...read this...it may

save your life. Then pass it along to anyone you would like to be

alive after an earthquake.

EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLEON THE "TRIANGLE OF LIFE"

Edited by Larry Linn for MAA Safety Committee brief on 4/13/04.

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.

In 1996 we made a film which proved my survival methodology to be

correct. The Turkish Federal Government, City of Istanbul, University

of Istanbul Case Productions and ARTI cooperated to film this

practical, scientific test. We collapsed a school and a home with 20

mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did "duck and cover," and ten

mannequins I used in my "triangle of life" survival method.

After the simulated earthquake collapse we crawled through the rubble and

entered the building to film and document the results. The film,

in which I practiced my survival techniques under directly observable,

scientific conditions, relevant to building collapse, showed there

would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover.

There would likely have been 100 percent survivability for people

using my method of the "triangle of life." This film has been seen

by millions of viewers on television in Turkey and the rest of

Europe, and it was seen in the USA, Canada and Latin America on the TV

program Real TV.

The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico

City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under their 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 l! arger the object, the stronger, and 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. They are everywhere.

TEN 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 stai! rs 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.

Heed the word and save someone's life!

[Jon 533]

we don't have earthquakes, we just have a whole lotta shakin going on!!

good advice.