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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. 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, and 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.
TEN TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE
SAFETY
1) Most everyone who
simply 'ducks and
covers' when buildings
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 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 to
everyone YOU care about
and save someone's life!
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