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
> spac e 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
> 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
> Possib le
> - 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 of fices 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!
>
> 'We are but angels with one wing, it takes two to fly'
>
> 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.
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