All the things you need to know about surviving an earthquake...
January 28, 2010Having lived through the Kobe earthquake ~ six weeks without water and over two months without gas ~ his suggestions are excellent.
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...
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!
"We are but angels with one wing, it takes two to fly"
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
Posted by sonoma newcomers. Posted In : General
