~~I just recieved this in an email and thought that it was really interesting and should be implemented all over! Less causalties will happen!!!~~
If we are ever to be in an earthquake
Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a doorway?
Well, this guy has a completely reverse opinion. This is very interesting, different from what we were all taught. Hope we all remember his survival
method if we are ever in an earthquake!
Please read and pass the info along to your family members and friends; it could save their lives someday!
Blessings to you,
Bjorn
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!
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’.
