Mounted search and rescue

[Karen Nesbitt <spanishequines@yahoo.com>]

 

The following is an excerp from an email I recently received and thought it was worth of sharing.  It is about earthquakes and what to do.  As most of you may know by now Illinois recently suffered an earthquake along the NEW MADRID fault.  This fault is suppoed to be worse that the fault line that runs throungh California, but great fortune is ours in that it is not as active.

 

Here too is a website to visit about earthquakes...

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/states/index.php?region=Illinois

 

I found it interesting to note here that the behavior of our animals was odd about that time.  Our dog, who normally makes herself highly visible, well, she spent several day shiding under the furniture at the time of the quake.  We were sleeping during that recent quake, however she awoke with a start and normally if something wakes her, she barks.  During the quake, she just stood up and acted a tad confused.

 

But here goes, the excerpt... (I wished this was a URL, so do apologize for its length, but here goes...perhaps it will make for interesting reading and discussion.. seems the MSAR site

has been quiet lately!!))

=================>>> 

Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a doorway? Well, Doug Copp has an expert opinion that is a complete reversal of what we were all taught.  
 

Please read this and pass this valuable information 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. I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. At the time, I didn't 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 triangle is 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.

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 to a large bulky object (like a sofa or desk) 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 will cause fewer 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. They can tell 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. 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. This 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. 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.

 

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 used 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 results showed showed there would have been zero percent survival for those doing duck and cover. There likely would 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, in the USA , Canada and Latin America on the TV program Real TV.
 

Spread the word and save someone's life... The entire world is
experiencing natural calamities so be prepared!

END OF ARTICLE...

 

Respectfully,

K. Nesbitt

Iroquois County

VMSAR

Illinois