The Ya’an earthquake reminds us once again of nature’s unpredictability. Knowledge about earthquake self-rescue deserves constant dissemination until it becomes second nature; we hope this article can help everyone protect themselves during an earthquake.
Doug Copp, the chief rescue expert of the world’s most experienced rescue team — the American International Rescue Team (ARTI).
Below is Doug Copp’s recorded account:
I have worked with various rescue teams from over 60 different countries, crawled in and out of 875 collapsed buildings. I served as an expert for two years on the United Nations Disaster Mitigation (UNX051-UNIENET) team. From 1985 to the present, I have been involved in almost every major rescue operation unless multiple disasters occurred simultaneously.
In 1996, we made a film using a method I developed and proved to be correct. The Turkish government, Istanbul city, Istanbul University, and ARTI jointly produced this scientific research film.
We simulated the destruction of a school and a house containing 20 mannequins. Ten mannequins used the “duck and cover” method, while the other 10 used my “Triangle of Life” survival technique.
After the simulated earthquake, we slowly entered the collapsed buildings through the rubble and filmed and documented the results.
Under directly observable and scientific conditions, this film captured the survival techniques I use. The results showed that those who used the “duck and cover” method had a zero survival rate, while those who used the “Triangle of Life” had a 100% survival rate. Millions of people in Turkey and across Europe, the United States, Canada, and Latin America have seen this film on television.
The first building I entered was a school during the 1985 Mexico earthquake. Every child was under their desk. Every child was crushed. They could have survived if they had lain down next to the aisles beside their desks. I don’t know how the children were misled into thinking they should hide under something.
Simply put, when a building collapses and the roof falls onto objects or furniture, the weight creates a space next to them. This space is what I call the “Triangle of Life.” The larger and stronger the object, the less it will be compressed. The smaller the object is compressed, the larger the space created, and the greater the chance that someone using this space will avoid injury.
Next time you watch buildings collapse on TV, count the number of “triangles” formed. You’ll find them everywhere. In collapsed buildings, this is the most common shape. It’s practically everywhere. I trained the fire department in Trujillo (a city with a population of about 750,000), teaching people how to survive, how to care for their families, and how to rescue others during an earthquake.
The head of rescue at the Trujillo Fire Department is a professor at Trujillo University. He accompanied me and said, “My name is Roberto Rosales. I am the chief rescuer in Trujillo. When I was 11 years old, I was trapped in a collapsed building during the 1972 earthquake that killed 70,000 people. I survived thanks to the ‘Triangle of Life’ next to my brother’s motorcycle. My friends who hid under beds and desks died. I’m living proof of the ‘Life Triangle,’ and my friends are examples of ‘duck and cover.’”
Doug’s 10 Key Earthquake Self-Rescue Tips:
1. When a building collapses, nearly everyone who simply “ducks and covers” is crushed to death. People who try to hide under objects like desks or cars also usually suffer serious injuries or death.
2. Cats, dogs, and small children naturally curl up in a safe position when in danger. You should do the same during an earthquake. It’s an instinctive form of protection that can be done in a very small space. By staying close to an object — a sofa or large piece of furniture — only slight compression occurs.
3. Wooden buildings are the safest during earthquakes. Wood is flexible and moves with the force of the quake. If a wooden structure collapses, it leaves large voids for survival, and wood is the least dense and lightest material. Brick structures shatter into small pieces. Bricks can injure people, but far fewer people are hurt by bricks than by concrete.
4. If an earthquake occurs at night while you’re in bed, simply roll off the bed. The area around the bed is a relatively safe space.
5. If an earthquake happens while you’re watching TV and you can’t quickly escape through a door or window, lie down next to a sofa or chair and curl up.
6. When the building collapsed, many people were found dead at the doors. What happened? If you stand under a doorframe, when it falls forward or backward, you will be injured by the roof collapsing on top of you. If the doorframe collapses sideways, you may be pinned underneath. So no matter what, you’ll suffer fatal injuries!
7. Never use the stairs during an earthquake. The shaking frequency of the stairs is different from that of the building, causing the stairs and structural elements to repeatedly collide. When you’re on the stairs, you can get cut by the steps, resulting in terrifying injuries. Even if the stairs haven’t collapsed, stay away from them. They could give way not only due to the quake but also because they might be overloaded with people.
8. Try to stay close to the outer walls of the building or move away from the building altogether. Staying near the outer side of a wall is much safer than the inner side. The closer you are to the center of the building, the more likely your escape route will be blocked.
9. People in vehicles during an earthquake can be struck by falling objects from the roadside—this is exactly what happened on the Nimitz Freeway. Many innocent victims of the San Francisco earthquake were inside their cars. In fact, they could have simply exited their vehicles, sat or lain down next to them. There’s usually a 3-foot-high space next to every crushed vehicle, unless the car was hit by something falling straight down.
10. I’ve found that areas in newspaper offices or workplaces stacked with lots of newspapers tend to be safer, as newspapers don’t compress easily. You can often find relatively large spaces near piles of paper.