THIS
LOOKS LIKE PRETTY GOOD ADVICE
Since the news is all about Earthquakes these days, I decided to forward to
you these hints for survival.
Forget everything you've been trained to do during an earthquake!!!
Boy! Is this ever an eye opener. Directly opposite of what we've been taught
over the years! I can remember in school being told to, "duck and
cover" [deadly!] or stand in a doorway [deadly!] during an earthquake.
This guy's findings are absolutely amazing. I hope we all remember his
survival method if we are ever in an earthquake!!!
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 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
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