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White House readies ‘US Shake Out’ to prepare citizens for earthquakes [drop to the ground...]
The Hill ^

Posted on 04/21/2011 9:05:11 AM PDT by Sub-Driver

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To: Sub-Driver

Aarrgh! Does everything have to have a cutesy slogan???


41 posted on 04/21/2011 10:04:28 AM PDT by greatplains
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To: Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!

Cool! The coast will be closer so it won’t cost an arm and a leg to have a beach vacation.


42 posted on 04/21/2011 10:05:22 AM PDT by bgill (Kenyan Parliament - how could a man born in Kenya who is not even a native American become the POTUS)
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To: Sub-Driver
I have been in the fire service for 37 years, been involved in USAR and building collapse incidents and training. I also survived the 1964 9.2 Alaskan Earthquake. This is the best article I have found about surviving an earthquake (or any other building collapse for that matter. I use this in all of our new firefighter training.

Where to Go During an Earthquake

Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a doorway? Well, forget it! This is a real eye opener. It could save your life someday.

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, and 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.

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 - NOT under 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 building 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 bed, 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.

Spread the word and save someone's life...

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.

43 posted on 04/21/2011 10:10:05 AM PDT by Species8472 (There is no distinctly native American criminal class...save Congress)
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To: bgill

Good attitude and I hate to be negative but not many will survive to see beach front property.


44 posted on 04/21/2011 10:10:29 AM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid! (Obama:If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun (the REAL Arizona instigator))
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To: Sub-Driver

*


45 posted on 04/21/2011 10:12:54 AM PDT by PMAS
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To: Species8472

Post of the day. Thank you very much.


46 posted on 04/21/2011 10:13:42 AM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid! (Obama:If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun (the REAL Arizona instigator))
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To: Quix

Either they know something or they are getting ready to invent some panic. All of a sudden they have a drill for the New Madrid fault? Come on nobody ever talks about that fault line. I smell a rat. (Demorat)


47 posted on 04/21/2011 10:20:31 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped.)
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To: Sub-Driver

Boy are they trying to justify their existence, budget and pensions!!!


48 posted on 04/21/2011 10:21:28 AM PDT by mo ("If you understand, no explanation is needed; if you do not, no explanation is possible")
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Hmmmmmm

Evidently.


49 posted on 04/21/2011 10:25:02 AM PDT by Quix (Times are a changin' INSURE you have believed in your heart & confessed Jesus as Lord Come NtheFlesh)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

With Japan they may be covering their behinds. They can say they did something and they can waste our money.


50 posted on 04/21/2011 10:26:31 AM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid! (Obama:If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun (the REAL Arizona instigator))
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To: Le Chien Rouge

Shake Rattle and Roll!

Whole lot of shakin going on!


51 posted on 04/21/2011 10:40:17 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (Click my name. See my home page, if you dare!)
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To: Don Corleone

Yes it does doesn’t it.

I went to catholic school for 2 years. The nuns were honest about it.

They told us we needed to stay in our assigned place so identifying our bodies would be easier.


52 posted on 04/21/2011 10:40:32 AM PDT by IMR 4350
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To: Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!

I’m surprised they didn’t hire The Cars to come play “Shake It Up” and bring the Chevy Volt Dancers or Census Dancers,too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Szn8d3sgtxY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvwTMZNWGuk

D.C. creating new ways to waste $ .


53 posted on 04/21/2011 10:50:59 AM PDT by WOBBLY BOB ( "I don't want the majority if we don't stand for something"- Jim Demint)
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To: Species8472
I found the "triangle of life" approach interesting, but there is absolutely no way to validate its efficacy vs. other actions.

I have been in my share of earthquakes. Best possible option: get outside.

54 posted on 04/21/2011 11:01:09 AM PDT by Mr. Bird
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To: Mr. Bird

I will remember that.


55 posted on 04/21/2011 12:05:43 PM PDT by Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid! (Obama:If They Bring a Knife to the Fight, We Bring a Gun (the REAL Arizona instigator))
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To: Mr. Bird; Quix

“Go to the field”


56 posted on 04/21/2011 1:15:35 PM PDT by jackv (The darkness hates the light!)
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To: Sub-Driver

“Participants are told to drop to the ground, take cover under something sturdy, such as a desk or a table, and hold on to it until the shaking stops. “

And who’s going to tell the people when the shaking stops?


57 posted on 04/21/2011 1:18:58 PM PDT by pnz1
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To: Mr. Bird

I’ve read serious debunkings of that . . . method . . .

However, I’ve not understood how it couldn’t be true in some circumstances.

Some things can only be compressed to a certain degree. Why wouldn’t it be safer BESIDE something that wouldn’t compress near as much as one’s body would???!!!


58 posted on 04/21/2011 3:33:36 PM PDT by Quix (Times are a changin' INSURE you have believed in your heart & confessed Jesus as Lord Come NtheFlesh)
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To: jackv

Of course . . . when that’s doable.

In many city situations, running outside risks a lot of falling big shards of glass, signs and bricks.

Seems to me, one has to follow Holy Spirit’s leading foremost.


59 posted on 04/21/2011 3:34:55 PM PDT by Quix (Times are a changin' INSURE you have believed in your heart & confessed Jesus as Lord Come NtheFlesh)
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To: Quix

Yes, yes...absolutely!


60 posted on 04/21/2011 5:15:16 PM PDT by jackv (The darkness hates the light!)
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