TEN TIPS TO ENSURE SAFETY DURING EARTHQUAKES

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 (space) 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.

Thank you, Futari.

不客氣, Elinor.
Have you ever encountered one? : )

Futari,

I have encountered the biggest one in my life ─ the 921 earthquake. At the time I was sleeping, and then the house was shaking. With frightness, I could do nothing but pray, praying to God for the safety.

Next time, for Christ sake, look for shelter first then pray.

地震來時，你躲在哪裡？

也許你已讀過，再提醒你一次：地震來時，你躲在哪裡？如果你依照小時候 老師教我們的方法乖乖躲在桌子底下，床舖底下，那麼，我必須告訴你，你的傷亡率，高達百分之九十八！
那該怎麼辦？美國國際搜救隊長教你正確的躲避位置。正確的地震保
命法 -- 轉載道格卡普是美國國際搜救隊長，自一九八五年至今，他及他的隊員己參與全世界七十九次重大災難的救災工作，他曾經爬進近七百棟因為地震、爆炸而嚴重倒 塌的建築物內搜查受困的生還者以及罹難者的遺體。除了參與兩年前日本神戶大地震及美國奧克拉荷馬市聯邦大樓爆炸案救授工作，十二年來國際新聞中的重大災難救災，他都沒缺席。

本月十九日他離華前，除了中華民國搜救總隊邀他演講，美國在台協會、加拿大駐華經貿辦事處也邀請他，為美、加外交官員傳授在建築物倒塌時如何求生。國人從小到大，在防震演習中，老師總是叫學生躲在課桌下，道格得知這點後，很焦急地一再呼籲： 不要躲在桌子、床舖下，而是要以比桌、床高度為低的姿勢，躲在桌子床舖的旁邊。

他以先前和土耳其政府、大學合作拍製的地震逃生錄影帶，說明不要躲在桌下避震的道理。透過土耳其政府協助，製作單位爆破一棟廢棄大樓，模擬地震時建築物倒塌的情形，工作人員先依據「常識」，在桌子床舖等家具旁，同樣放置十具模特兒，炸藥引爆後大樓變成斷坦殘壁，他和搜救隊員依予找到二十具模特兒，在桌床下的十具模特兒，有八具被壓成全毀，其中一具甚至頭、身、腳斷成三截；他放置的十具模特兒，則全部安好無事，他解釋，建築物天花板因強震倒塌時，會將桌床等家具壓毀，人如果躲在其中，後果不堪設想，如果人以低姿勢躲在家具旁，家具可以受倒塌物品的力道，讓一旁的人取得生存空間。道格說，即使開車時遇到地震，也要趕快離開車子，很多地震時在停車場喪命的人，都是在車內被活活壓死，在兩車之間的人，卻毫髮未傷，強烈地震發生時，如果你正在停車場，千萬不要留在車內，以免垮下來的天花板壓扁汽車，造成傷害；應該以臥姿躲在車旁，掉落的天花壓在車上，不致直接撞擊人身，可能形成一塊『生存空間』，增加存活機會 …。他很慎重地對在場的一百多位我國搜救隊員說，搜救隊員必要在地震中先能自己求得生存，只有活下來，才能拯救他人性命。他說，希望大家告訴大家，只要傳播這麼一點求生
訊息，地震發生時，建築物內的傷亡率，可以由百分之九十，遽降為百分之二。