What is with all these earthquakes? There are more and more of them every week. Remember back in Earth Science class they told you someday California was going to float away into the ocean because of earthquakes. It seems like it is going to happen.
Nevada
http://www.myfoxyumaelcentro.com/myfox/pages/News/Detai
l?contentId=5843765&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=T
STY&pageId=3.3.1
Mexicali
http://www.myfoxyumaelcentro.com/myfox/pages/ContentDet
ail?contentId=5751454
SoCal
http://www.myfoxyumaelcentro.com/myfox/pages/ContentDet
ail?contentId=4087076
LA
http://www.myfoxyumaelcentro.com/myfox/pages/ContentDet
ail?contentId=4015671
Someone just forwarded an e-mail to me about earthquakes, and how to survive them Not sure who to thank, but it makes sense. Oh I guess it is compliments of Doug Copp.
TRIANGLE OF LIFE"
(EARTHQUAKES)
This is most definitely worth reading. Amazing when
you think what
we were taught to do when we were children. How wrong they
were!!
EXCERPT 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.
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.
SPREAD THE WORD AND SAVE SOMEONE’S
LIFE...
