O.T. Survive an Earth Quake.
VFW
THIS IS WORTH READING! Even if you don't live where there are very
sizeable earthquakes, you might be visiting somewhere that does. I
sure wouldn't have known this either.
> Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a
> doorway?? Well, this guy
> has proven a completely reverse opinion. This is very interesting,
> different from what we were all taught.
>
> 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 side 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.
--
Hint; Enjoy the moment !