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By Tom Fenton |
Jennifer Wright, now at Sierra Providence, sent along a story this week that I hope my parents read.
The story is about how to survive an earthquake, and the writer, Doug Copp, claims to have worked on hundreds of earthquake ravaged buildings, rescuing people and recovering bodies.
(My folks live in northern California and some years ago their brick chimney landed in their bed during an earthquake. Fortunately, they were not in it at the time.)
What Copp suggests is that in an earthquake most people will try to get under something to protect themselves.
Children in earthquake areas often take refuge under desks.
“The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake,” Copp writes. “Every child was under its desk. Every child was crushed to the thickness of their bones.”
Copp’s point, and it makes perfect sense, is that they could have survived had they simply lay down in the aisles alongside their desks.
He contends that while most objects made of wood or steel will crush down, they will usually leave enough space alongside for an individual to survive.
“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…. The larger the object, and 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,” he writes.
Same thing for a car. People who remain in cars for safety are often crushed when a parking garage floor or bridge comes down.
He says people who get out and remain next to a car will have a much greater chance of survival.
The most dangerous buildings to be in during an earthquake, he says, are concrete. Wooden buildings are the safest, and he says that while brick buildings tend to come apart, they are less prone to inflict crushing injuries.
If you are in a hotel when an earthquake occurs, he says, roll off the bed.
As a kid during earthquakes in the Bay Area and in Mexico, I always tried to get under a door jam.
Not a good idea, writes Copp. “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!”
He also says stay out of stairwells. “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.”
He also says 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.”
And this one should hit home for people at El Paso Inc. and the Times:
“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.”
Thank God we don’t have many earthquakes in the El Paso area. But we do have some. Earthquakes with a reading of 3 or so on the Mercali scale are not uncommon.
However, in August of 1931 there was a 6.0 centered near Valentine.
If a big one comes, or when you travel to an earthquake zone, keep Copp’s tips in mind. They just might increase your shot at surviving.
Comments or question? E-mail tomfenton@elpasoinc.com
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