TIPS ON HOW TO SURVIVE A STRONG EARTHQUAKE
(Contributed by Teddy Javier through email)

This is really interesting. ...just the opposite of what we were taught and
maybe still are teaching our children and each other. Please print it and read
it, keep it and share it. I was amazed at how many things we've been
taught that are NOT the right thing to do.

For those who might encounter an earthquake (which is everyone). 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, work! ed 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... There would likely have been 100
percent survivability for people using my method of the
'triangle of life.'

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 com! mon shape
you will see, in a collapsed building.

TEN TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY:

1) Most everyone who simply 'ducks and covers' WHEN BUILDING!
S COLLAPSE is crushed to death. People who get under objects, like desks or
cars, are crushed.

2) Cats, dogs & 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. &! nbsp;

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 of 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 bldg).

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 i! nside 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. PLEASE SHARE THIS INFORMATION.


Lifted from Friends of Bislig
Website