|
Folks,
please SHARE, SHARE, SHARE this with your loved ones:
Where to Go During an Earthquake
Remember that stuff
about hiding under a table or standing in a doorway? Well, forget
it! This is a real eye opener. It could save your life someday.
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, and
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.
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 - NOT under 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 building 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 bed, 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.
|
