TEN TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY
Wednesday, October 26th, 20051) 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
(space) 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
squashe d 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) Don’t stand in a doorway! 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 ca se, 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.
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 pe rimeter of the
building the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked
9) Get out of your car and lie next to it. 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 surround ing stacks of paper.
Spread the word to everyone YOU care about and save someone’s life!
