[Westchurch Ramblings] FW: FW: surviving an earthquake
- From: "Mark and Krissy Christensen" <mark.krissy@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Andrew and Sue Hay" <sadhay@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 7 Sep 2010 15:22:14 +1200
OOOPs looks as if I should have checked this out more...civil defence say move
to an interior wall/under a table...
K
From: Nic & Caroline Lees [mailto:leespeak@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Tuesday, 7 September 2010 1:08 p.m.
To: Mark and Krissy Christensen
Cc: Nicky.Wagner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; gmchat@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: FW: surviving an earthquake
Looks like this is a email hoax.
DO NOT get in the "triangle of life": In recent years, an e-mail has been
circulating which describes an alternative to the long-established "Drop,
Cover, and Hold On" advice. The so-called "triangle of life" and some of the
other actions recommended in the e-mail are potentially life threatening, and
the credibility of the source of these recommendations has been broadly
questioned (see links at left).
The "triangle of life" advice (always get next to a table rather than
underneath it) is based on several wrong assumptions:
* buildings always collapse in earthquakes (wrong- especially in
developed nations, and flat "pancake" collapse is rare anywhere);
* when buildings collapse they always crush all furniture inside (wrong-
people DO survive under furniture or other shelters);
* people can always anticipate how their building might collapse and
anticipate the location of survivable void spaces (wrong- the direction of
shaking and unique structural aspects of the building make this nearly
impossible) ; and
* during strong shaking people can move to a desired location
_____________
Please help! If you have received an email about the "triangle of life" please
respond to its sender by directing them to this page:
www.earthquakecountry.info/dropcoverholdon/
Ask them to send this link to everyone they sent the "triangle" email, and to
the person who sent it to them. Thank you!
also see
http://www.earthquakecountry.info/dropcoverholdon/
On 6/09/2010 12:04 p.m., Mark and Krissy Christensen wrote:
We are all Ok - thanks for your thoughts - I thought this was interesting to
share and hope you can pass it on if you feel it makes sense to you too..
Krissy
Earthquake safety
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 jamb 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!
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