|
Triangle of Life
This is excellent - very informative...take the time to read it
ALL...could
save your life.
HIGH POINTS FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON THE "TRIANGLE OF LIFE"
Edited by Larry Linn for MAA Safety Committee brief on 4/13/04.
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 (UNX051 -UNIENET) for two years. I have
worked at every major disaster in the world since 1985, except for
simultaneous disasters.
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.
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.
I trained the Fire Department of Trujillo (population 750,000) in how to
survive, take care of their families, and to rescue others in
earthquakes.
The chief of rescue in the Trujillo Fire Department is a professor at
Trujillo University. He accompanied me everywhere. He gave personal
testimony: "My name is Roberto Rosales. I am Chief of Rescue in
Trujillo.
When I was 11 years old, I was trapped inside of a collapsed building.
My
entrapment occurred during the earthquake of 1972 that killed 70,000
people. I survived in the "triangle of life" that existed next to my
brother's motorcycle. My friends who got under the bed and under desks
were
crushed to death [he gives more details, names, addresses etc.]...I am
the
living example of the "triangle of life". My dead friends are the
example
of "duck and cover".
TIPS DOUG COPP PROVIDES:
1) Everyone who simply "ducks and covers" WHEN BUILDINGS COLLAPSE is
crushed to death -- every time, without exception. People who get under
objects,
like desks or cars, are always crushed.
2) Cats, dogs and babies all naturally often 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. The reason is simple: the 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 while you are watching television 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) Everybody 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
stair s 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. They are
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 screaming, 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
buildi ng 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, says the author.&n bsp; 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.
|
