Excerpt from
TRIANGLE OF LIFE (Discredited for application in the USA)
by Doug Copp
Edited by Larry Linn
for MAA Safety Committee briefing on 4/13/04
See American Red Cross Response
TRIANGLE OF LIFE (Discredited for application in the USA)
by Doug Copp
Edited by Larry Linn
for MAA Safety Committee briefing on 4/13/04
See American Red Cross Response
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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!
- 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.
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.
- 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;
- 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. 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.
- 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.
HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF DURING AN EARTHQUAKE...
OFFICIAL RESCUE TEAMS from the U.S. and other
countries who have searched for trapped people in collapsed structures around
the world, as well as emergency managers, researchers, and school safety
advocates, all agree that "Drop, Cover, and Hold On" is the
appropriate action to reduce injury and death during earthquakes. Methods
like standing in a doorway, running outside, and "triangle of life"
method are considered dangerous and are not recommended (see below).
WHAT TO DO IMMEDIATELY WHEN SHAKING BEGINS
Your past experience in earthquakes may give you a false
sense of safety; you didn't do anything, or you ran outside, yet you survived
with no injuries. Or perhaps you got under your desk and others thought you
overreacted. However, you likely have never experienced the kind of strong
earthquake shaking that is possible in much large earthquakes: sudden and
intense back and forth motions of several feet per second will cause the floor
or the ground to jerk sideways out from under you, and every unsecured object
around you could topple, fall, or become airborne, potentially causing serious
injury. This is why you must learn to immediately protect yourself after the
first jolt... don't wait to see if the earthquake shaking will be strong!
In MOST situations, you will reduce your chance of injury if
you:
- DROP
down onto your hands and knees (before the earthquakes knocks you
down). This position protects you from falling but allows you to still
move if necessary.
- COVER
your head and neck (and your entire body if possible) under a
sturdy table or desk. If there is no shelter nearby, only then should
you get down near an interior wall (or next to low-lying furniture that
won't fall on you), and cover your head and neck with your arms and hands.
- HOLD ON to your shelter (or to your head and neck) until the shaking stops. Be prepared to move with your shelter if the shaking shifts it around.
Wherever you are, protect yourself! You may be
in a situation where you cannot find shelter beneath furniture (or position yourself low against a
wall, with your arms covering your head and neck). It is important to think
about what you will do to protect yourself wherever you are. What if you are
driving, in a theater, in bed, at the beach, etc.? Step 5
of the Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety describes what to
do in various situations, no matter where you are when you feel earthquake
shaking.
WHY RESCUERS AND EXPERTS RECOMMEND DROP,
COVER, AND HOLD ON
Trying to move during shaking puts you at risk: Earthquakes
occur without any warning and may be so violent that you cannot run or crawl;
you therefore will most likely be knocked to the ground where you happen to be.
So it is best to drop before the earthquake drops you, and find nearby shelter
or use your arms and hands to protect your head and neck. "Drop, Cover,
and Hold On" gives you the best overall chance of quickly protecting
yourself during an earthquake... even during quakes that cause furniture to move
about rooms, and even in buildings that might ultimately collapse.
The
greatest danger is from falling and flying objects: Studies of
injuries and deaths caused by earthquakes over the last several decades show
that you are much more likely to be injured by falling or flying objects (TVs,
lamps, glass, bookcases, etc.) than to die in a collapsed building. "Drop,
Cover, and Hold On" (as described above) will protect you from most of
these injuries.
If
there is no furniture nearby, you can still reduce the chance of injury from
falling objects by getting down next to an interior wall and covering your head
and neck with your arms (exterior walls are more likely to collapse and have
windows that may break). If you are in bed, the best thing to do is to stay
there and cover your head with a pillow. Studies of injuries in earthquakes
show that people who moved from their beds would not have been injured if they
had remained in bed.
You can also reduce your chance of injury or damage to your
belongings by securing them in the first place. Secure top heavy furniture to
walls with flexible straps. Use earthquake putty or velcro fasteners for
objects on tables, shelves, or other furniture. Install safety latches on
cabinets to keep them closed. Instructions for how to "secure your
space" are at www.daretoprepare.org.
Building collapse is less of a danger: While images
of collapsed structures in earthquakes around the world are frightening and get
the most attention from the media, most buildings do not collapse at all, and
few completely collapse. In earthquake prone areas of the U.S. and in many
other countries, strict building codes have worked to greatly reduce the
potential of structure collapse. However, there is the possibility of
structural failure in certain building types, especially unreinforced masonry
(brick buildings), and in certain structures constructed before the latest
building codes. Rescue professionals are trained to understand how these
structures collapse in order to identify potential locations of survivors
within "survivable void spaces."
The main goal of "Drop, Cover, and Hold On" is to
protect you from falling and flying debris and other nonstructural
hazards, and to increase the chance of you ending up
in a Survivable Void Space if the building actually collapses. The space under
a sturdy table or desk is likely to remain even if the building collapses-
pictures from around the world show tables and desks standing with rubble all
around them, and even holding up floors that have collapsed. Experienced
rescuers agree that successfully predicting other safe locations in advance is
nearly impossible, as where these voids will be depends on the direction of the
shaking and many other factors. (See "triangle of life" below.)
The ONLY exception to the "Drop, Cover and Hold
On" rule is if you are in a country with unengineered construction, and if
you are on the ground floor of an unreinforced mud-brick (adobe) building, with
a heavy ceiling. In that case, you should try to move quickly outside to an
open space. This cannot be recommended as a substitute for building
earthquake-resistant structures in the first place!
Based on years of research about how people are injured or
killed during earthquakes, and the experiences of U.S. and international search
and rescue teams, these three actions are not recommended to
protect yourself during earthquakes:
DO NOT run outside or to other rooms during shaking: The
area near the exterior walls of a building is the most dangerous place to be.
Windows, facades and architectural details are often the first parts of the
building to collapse. To stay away from this danger zone, stay inside if you
are inside and outside if you are outside. Also, shaking can be so strong that
you will not be able to move far without falling down, and objects may fall or
be thrown at you that you do not expect. Injuries can be avoided if you drop to
the ground before the earthquake drops you.
DO NOT stand in a doorway: An enduring
earthquake image of California is a collapsed adobe home with the door frame as
the only standing part. From this came our belief that a doorway is the safest
place to be during an earthquake. True- if you live in an old, unreinforced
adobe house or some older woodframe houses. In modern houses, doorways are no
stronger than any other part of the house, and the doorway does not protect you
from the most likely source of injury- falling or flying objects. You also may
not be able to brace yourself in the door during strong shaking. You are safer
under a table.
Please
help! If you have received an email about the "triangle of life"
please respond to its sender by directing them to this page:
www.earthquakecountry.org/dropcoverholdon/ Ask them to send this link to everyone they sent the "triangle" email, and to the person who sent it to them. Thank you! |
DO NOT get in the "triangle of life": In
recent years, an e-mail has been circulating which describes an alternative to
the long-established "Drop, Cover, and Hold On" advice. The so-called
"triangle of life" and some of the other actions recommended in the
e-mail are potentially life threatening, and the credibility of the source of
these recommendations has been broadly questioned (see link at right).
The "triangle of life" advice (always get next to
a table rather than underneath it) is based on several wrong assumptions:
- buildings
always collapse in earthquakes (wrong- especially in developed
nations, and flat "pancake" collapse is rare anywhere);
- when
buildings collapse they always crush all furniture inside (wrong-
people DO survive under furniture or other shelters);
- people
can always anticipate how their building might collapse and anticipate the
location of survivable void spaces (wrong- the direction of
shaking and unique structural aspects of the building make this nearly
impossible) ; and
- during strong shaking people can move to a desired location (wrong- strong shaking can make moving very difficult and dangerous).
Some other recommendations in the "triangle of
life" e-mail are also based on wrong assumptions and very hazardous. For
example, the recommendation to get out of your car during an earthquake and lay
down next to it assumes that there is always an elevated freeway above you that
will fall and crush your car. Of course there are very few elevated freeways,
and laying next to your car is very dangerous because the car can move and
crush you, and other drivers may not see you on the ground!
PRACTICE THE RIGHT THING TO DO… IT COULD SAVE YOUR
LIFE
You will be more likely to react quickly when shaking begins
if you have actually practiced how to protect yourself on a regular basis. A
great time to practice Drop, Cover, and Hold On is by participating in a Great ShakeOut Earthquake Drill (each
October in most areas).
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