For Those Living On Or Near a Fault Line

[Luvin1stdegree 0]

I received this email today and thought it made some sense. I wanted to share with anyone who may be near a faultline.

 

Click For Spoiler

What You Were Taught About Earthquakes Was

Wrong

 

EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON 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 (UNX051 -UNIENET) 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 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

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.

They

are everywhere. I trained the Fire Department of Trujillo (population

750,000) in how to survive, take care of their families, and to rescue

others in earthquakes.

 

The chief of rescue in the Trujillo Fire Department is a professor at

Trujillo University. He accompanied me everywhere. He gave

personal

testimony:

 

"My name is Roberto Rosales. I am Chief of Rescue in Trujillo.

When I was

11 years old, I was trapped inside of a collapsed building. My

entrapment

occurred during the earthquake of 1972 that killed 70,000 people. I

survived in the "triangle of life" that existed next to my brother's

motorcycle. My friends who got under the bed and under desks were

crushed

to death [he gives more details, names, addresses etc.]...I am the

living

example of the "triangle of life". My dead friends are the example of

"duck

and cover".

 

TIPS DOUG COPP PROVIDES:

 

1) Everyone who simply "ducks and covers" WHEN BUILDINGS

COLLAPSE is

crushed to death -- Every time, without exception. People who get

under

objects, like desks or cars, are always crushed.

 

2) Cats, dogs and babies all naturally often 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. The reason is simple: the 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 while you are watching television 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) Everybody 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. They are 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 screaming, 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, says the autho

[BakulaBabe 2]

Thanks for sharing that. I live in Los Angeles County, Southern California, and I'm very interested in new information concerning earthquake preperation and survival. I've ALWAYS heard "duck & cover" to keep from getting clobbered by falling debris, but getting squashed under the thing I'm ducking under is something I only consider during a quake. I'll definitely give it more thought more often. It makes sense.

[DrWho42 13]

Hmmmm, I live along the San Andreas fault line....

 

In the city of Indio, although it has been sometime since I heard about earthquakes, my parents bought an excess amount of food and such in preparation for an earthquake... I'm just wondering about the asteroid 4179 Toutatis myself. ^_^

[mj 7]

Someone ought to get that info out during Earthquake Awareness week ( or month ot whatever). But I think they might need to discuss what advice is best based on how well the building is constructed.

 

If the building is constructed well enough so that it is not likely to collaspe up to a certain intensity, the current advice may be best. I am talking about the scenario where there is falling debris, but not a total collapse.

 

I was living in California during the October '89 quake, and was in the interior of a multi-story building. We did everything the post said not to do...one person stood in the doorway, I ducked under a desk.

 

But our concrete and steel building was designed to sway, and sway it did! Then everyone in the building walked down the stairs and out the doors, safe and sound.

In that particular case the major danger was from a tile or two falling from the ceiling, but not a complete ceiling collapse.

 

If I still lived in California, I would want to see the merits of this position discussed thoroughly!

[DrWho42 13]

Mmmm, isn't there supposed to be an earthquake for today?

 

According to this article, there will be one measuring at least 6.4 on the Richter scale for today...