[asom] quake - triangle of life

[Prakash Das]

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/triangle.asp

This link has some related information regarding the author and the claims made 
in this article.

Prakash

________________________________
From: deka7kl <deka...@gmail.com>
To: assamonline@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thu, February 4, 2010 3:12:29 PM
Subject: [asom] quake - triangle of life

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. I am amazed that even today schools are 
still using the ?Duck and Cover? instructions- telling the children to squat 
under their desks with their heads bowed and covered with their hands. This was 
the technique used in the Mexico City school.

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.

1) Almost 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. That 
position helps you 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. Concrete slab buildings are the most dangerous 
during an earthquake.

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) Almost 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 lying in the fetal position 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.

In 1996 we made a film, which proved my 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. We 
collapsed a school and a home with 20 mannequins inside. Ten mannequins did 
'duck and cover,' and ten mannequins I used in my 'triangle of life' survival 
method. After the simulated earthquake collapse we crawled through the rubble 
and entered the building to film and document the results. The film, in which I 
practiced my survival techniques under directly observable, scientific 
conditions, relevant to building collapse, showed there would have been zero 
percent survival for those doing duck and cover. There would likely have been 
100 percent survivability for people using my method of the 'triangle of life.' 
This film has been seen by millions of viewers on television in Turkey and the 
rest of Europe , and it was seen in the USA , Canada and Latin America on the 
TV program Real TV.

Spread the word and save someone's life... The entire world is experiencing 
natural calamities so be prepared!