Is it really safer to crawl under a desk during an earthquake or is it safer to stand underneath the door way?

Being under anything nice and solid will help you survive.

I just got this email which says the best place is next to a solid obeject



F.Y.I. Where to be During an Earthquake

Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a doorway?? Well, this guy has a completely reverse opinion. This is very interesting, different from what we were all taught.
Boy! Is this ever an eye opener. Directly opposite of what we've been taught over the years! This guy's findings is absolutely amazing. I hope we all remember his survival method if we are ever in an earthquake!!!
Please read this and pass the info along to your family members; It could save their lives someday!

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.
The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under its 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.

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 and save someone's life... The Entire world is experiencing natural calamities so be prepared!

'We are but angels with one wing, it takes two to fly'

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 t he 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 TSPAN.

Under a desk is not safer computers, tv, priters, hard covered books, and more heavy dangerous things could fall on you!

I heard exactly the same and i was wondering if the "Triangle of Life" can be tested in one mayor experiment from a 3rd party, like the ones that you guys (The Mythbusters) used to do. (After all, we have a lot of respect about your opinion.)

I think it has everything you like: destruction, science, creative thinking and it´s going to give us a very valueble information for saving lives. I vote for a test on this one!!

Doug Copp is a self promoting IDIOT.
"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."

The people on the Cypress had no option of getting out of their cars. All of the cars were still moving when it collapsed. He makes it sound like they had a choice and chose the wrong alternative.

I would suggest that ANYONE thinking of giving the so-called "Triangle of Life" any creedence google "doug copp fraud", and read some of the hits you'll get.

Not only is he an idiot, he is a liar, a fraud and a danger.

While his ToL might.... MIGHT.... be the best approach in certain construction types, he is claiming that it is ALWAYS the right thing to do, in ALL situations and that is simply wrong. Conversly, the American Red Cross promotes "duck, cover and hold on" ONLY in the US, and only in buildings built to proper building standards.

One day, some fool is going to follow Copps advice and get themselves killed.

Doug Cobb is a liar and a moron. His method has been put to much testing and it fails.

The Red Cross has done much work on this. You can read the full report here: Red Cross Report on Doug Cobb and the "Triangle of Life"

Some of it's more notable quotes:

"After Doug Copp released his reports on the triangles of life he became involved in a few activities that completely discredited him as a fraud."

"The first issue with Copp's simulation is that, while it did effectively collapse the ceiling of the building, it did not
effectively simulate an earthquake. In Copp's experiment, the columns were more or less rammed. This was an
effective demolition tactic to get the building to pancake. In an earthquake this is not what happens. In an
earthquake a building is shaken, an action quite different from the action of ramming a building to collapse it. In
an actual quake, buildings of a particular structure might experience a collapse of the ceiling, but most will not.

If a building has been built to US codes, it won't. Sure there are some buildings that don't meet code - and I'm not sure how long those codes have been in effect. But in those that DO meet code, it's most likely not going to happen. The occurrence of ceiling collapse is more likely to happen outside of the US where buildings are not constructed according to US structural integrity codes."

Doug maybe a liar, but his theory does hold some credence. My Mom was taught to plant herself agaisnt a wall so when the roof cloasped their would be a small triangle that was survivable. The mythbusters should teest his theory, because ducking under a school desk won't do anything in my opnion

He's far worse than a liar. He's a con man and a scam artist, who is pushing his Triangle of Life theory strictly for personal gain. Why would you believe such a person? Read some of the links. No one is denying that there might be some circumstances where the ToL might be the way to go. In the US, and most developed countries, however, buildings are built to a standard where the roof isn't going to collapse in the way he claims.

Unless you are living in a rural village in Turkey or the like, such as where he did his "investigations", you're much safer under that desk.

And really, as much as I admire the Mythbusters, why would you ignore decades of research by an organization with nothing to gain by lying to you and accept the word of a couple of special effects guys, even if they come to the same conclusion?

In a video of the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, the is a clip taken in a class at UC Santa Cruz which showed fluorescent lamps crashing down. You can note that some of the students who attempted to run for the door were hit by the falling light fixtures while the ones that ducked under the tables were not affected.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW-TkpvKPl0