Triangle of Life

Following is information for surviving an earthquake extracted from an article
written by Doug Copp

Mr. Copp is 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. He has crawled inside 875 collapsed buildings, worked with
rescue teams from 60 countries, founded rescue teams in several countries,
and is a member of many rescue teams from many countries. He was the United
Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation for two years and has worked at every
major disaster in the world since 1985 (except for instances of simultaneous
disasters).  In 1996 a film was made which proved his 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.  A school and home were collapsed with 20 mannequins inside. Ten
mannequins did "duck and cover," and ten mannequins used the "triangle
of life" survival method.  After the simulated earthquake collapse researchers
entered the building and crawled through the rubble to film and document the
results.

The study showed there would have been zero percent survival for those using
the duck and cover technique.  It also found there would likely have been
100 percent survivability for people using the "triangle of life."

Simply stated, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilingsiii falling
upon the objects or furniture inside crushes these objects, leaving a space
or void next to them. This space is what is called the "triangle of life".

The larger and stronger the object the less it will compact. The less  the object
compacts, the larger the void next to it and 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.