WHERE TO GO DURING AN EARTHQUAKE!!!

[Fat Man]

In the light of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I think the following information would be helpful when it comes to surviving an earthquake.

I just now received this information in an E-mail.

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...

So, if your kids are in school during an earthquake, the old "duck and cover" drill, an old relic from the 1950s, does not work!

Instead of your child crawling under the desk, your child should lay down in the isle next to the desk, but NOT under the desk.

You have a much greater chance of survival, curled up in a fetal position, laying in the "triangular void" next to a piece of furniture.

So, at home, do not crawl under your bed.

Instead, lay down on the floor next to the bed, but NOT under it.

Best to get out of the building if you can.

But if you can't get out, then lay down on the floor next to a large piece of furniture, within the triangular void.

And if you are in your car under a freeway overpass, then get out of your car. Do not try to crawl under your car. Instead, lay down on the ground next to your car, curled up into a fetal position.

So, if you try to crawl under things, you will get crushed to death.

Instead, lay down on the ground next to things.

I hope you all find this latest information useful.

[Indurrago]

Lol, now make a thread about where to go during a tsunami/hurricane.

[i_like_1981]

Are you really sure that "Lol" was the best way to begin your post, Indurrago? Serious stuff here. In response to Fat Man's post, I found that rather interesting how the best place to hide during an earthquake was not under a desk but rather, at the side of it. I can see how it works, though - I can't put it into words exactly, but it does sort of make sense to me. Whereas if a person is hiding under a table and a huge piece of building material falls on top of the table, the table will be crushed with the person underneath it and that will result in death. Makes sense, but it would be quite hard to explain to your average person. Big objects like sofas and tables are probably good at taking the weight of large bits of debris and this creates a gap for people to hide in. However, one problem is that you can never know where exactly the gap will be, and getting into the perfect position for survival in an atmosphere of panic and hysteria is easier said than done. Thankfully over here in Britain we very rarely get earthquakes or tornadoes. The worst we tend to get is cold winters (which for some reason, nobody here can get used to) and lousy weather all year round.

Best regards,
i_like_1981

[ChrisOH]

Are you really sure that "Lol" was the best way to begin your post, Indurrago? Serious stuff here. In response to Fat Man's post, I found that rather interesting how the best place to hide during an earthquake was not under a desk but rather, at the side of it. I can see how it works, though - I can't put it into words exactly, but it does sort of make sense to me. Whereas if a person is hiding under a table and a huge piece of building material falls on top of the table, the table will be crushed with the person underneath it and that will result in death. Makes sense, but it would be quite hard to explain to your average person. Big objects like sofas and tables are probably good at taking the weight of large bits of debris and this creates a gap for people to hide in. However, one problem is that you can never know where exactly the gap will be, and getting into the perfect position for survival in an atmosphere of panic and hysteria is easier said than done. Thankfully over here in Britain we very rarely get earthquakes or tornadoes. The worst we tend to get is cold winters (which for some reason, nobody here can get used to) and lousy weather all year round.

Most emergency drills deal with things coming from the air or at ground level -- e.g. tornadoes, lightning, bombs, gunfire, etc. However, since an earthquake comes at you from under the ground, the typical rules of disaster drills (hiding near or under something heavy, etc.) would either be reversed or wouldn't apply at all.

Here in Ohio, USA, we have a few earthquakes each year, usually emanating from the Great Lakes region, which I happen to live walking distance from. Most of the quakes are relatively small, fortunately (the largest ever in Cleveland was a 5.0 back in 1986) and many people don't even feel them. I've only felt one, about three years ago -- it was more of a loud burst of sound with some vibration, and I went outside checking to see if there had been an automobile accident or a tree had hit the house. Seeing nothing unusual, I went back inside and didn't give it much more thought, until reading in the paper the next day that a quake had occurred the previous evening exactly when I had heard the noise. It was somewhere in the three-point range, I believe.

[Fat Man]

Lol, now make a thread about where to go during a tsunami/hurricane.

Well, if you happen to live in a city or village along the shore, my advise would be, is to just put on your hiking boots and just walk out of town, and head for higher ground, or get inland as far as possible away from the shore. If you try to leave town in you car, there might be a traffic jam during the panic. The average person can walk about 2 to 3 miles per hour, which is much faster than any car going only ZERO miles per hour while stuck in a traffic jam. If you're in your car, and you're stopped in a traffic jam, then get out of your fucking car and start walking, and you'll leave all the other idiots behind. Just keep walking and don't look back.

Also, if I knew a hurricane is approaching my city, I would start leaving town before it comes, and now, thanks to weather satellites, we can know several hours in advance the probably of the hurricane striking the city where you live, and if you're caught in an open field during the winds, then lay down on the ground where you're less likely to get hit by flying debris or lightening.

The further inland your are, the less intense are the winds.

Are you really sure that "Lol" was the best way to begin your post, Indurrago? Serious stuff here. In response to Fat Man's post, I found that rather interesting how the best place to hide during an earthquake was not under a desk but rather, at the side of it. I can see how it works, though - I can't put it into words exactly, but it does sort of make sense to me. Whereas if a person is hiding under a table and a huge piece of building material falls on top of the table, the table will be crushed with the person underneath it and that will result in death. Makes sense, but it would be quite hard to explain to your average person. Big objects like sofas and tables are probably good at taking the weight of large bits of debris and this creates a gap for people to hide in. However, one problem is that you can never know where exactly the gap will be, and getting into the perfect position for survival in an atmosphere of panic and hysteria is easier said than done.

Well, it all makes perfect sense.

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.

When rescue workers go into a damaged building after an earthquake, there is always some gaps within the rubble, and people trapped inside those gaps are the ones who usually survive, and those gaps are usually found next to large pieces of furniture.

And in the case of a collapsed freeway overpass, those open gaps in the rubble are usually found next to the cars within the rubble.

So, if you are in a building when an earthquake strikes, try to get out if you can, but if you can't get out quickly enough, then head for a large piece if furniture like a desk or a sofa, and lay down on the floor, curled up in a fetal position, next to, but NOT under a large object, like furniture.

Best to be outdoors during an earthquake, and far enough away from any structures, like out in an open area. Yeah, as the ground shakes beneath your feet, you might lose your balance and fall on your ass, but the only thing injured will be your dignity. You can still pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and walk away.

OK, now what about volcanoes?

Well, volcanoes usually give some advanced warning, which sometimes turns out to be a false alarm, and sometimes not.

My advice would be, if you see a mountain blowing off some smoke, and you hear some distant rumbling, then pack your Gucci bag, and get outta Dodge!

[Solaris]

What great advice, Fat Man. My school still uses the traditional " get under the nearest desk and try to protect your head."

One thing that's strange, all of the many earthquakes in my town happen when nobody's in school, but at home sleeping, or on the weekends.

I remember the 7.2 last year, I was playing the piano, hit a wrong note, and suddenly I saw the chandelier shaking, heard the house creaking, and saw the pool splashing everywhere.

Nobody on our street actually followed the " get under the nearest desk and try to protect your head," Most people opened the door, and ran into the front yard, like my family did.

After a few seconds, the creaking stopped, but strangely I never felt the ground moving, just saw everything shaking.

Last Friday, during the 9.0 in Japan, the news was going crazy about how miniscule 2 feet tsunamis were hitting the beach... In fact, lots of people went to the beach to see the tiny tsunami.

It's fine if the media were going crazy on the 30 foot tsunamis that hit Japan, but why rant on some dumb 2 foot waves, while thousands are in Japan dead or missing