Earthquake survival

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...

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 common
shape, you will see, in a collapsed building. They are everywhere.


TEN 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.