How to Survive an Earthquake!!!

[Orchidflower]

I just happened to find this little eyeopener, and hope if it saves just one person's life.... If anyone has any real life information on surviving an earthquake, please, share as eventually most of us will, at the least, end up visiting an earthquake prone area.

Yahoo! Groups

 

[calmloki]

We had a quake over a decade ago here early in the mornnig. Woke me up and once i decided it wasn't really a truck driving through our kitchen i woke the gal, suggesting that we do *something*. As a SoCal gal she just smiled and relished the rocking - told me to settle down and enjoy the ride. A tenant over in Monmouth woke, identified the rocking as an earthquake, and had read the thing to do was stand in a doorway. He jumped right up, ran to the front door, and stood in the open doorway. Right across the street from the police station. Swaying back and forth. In the nude.

 

[ls99]

He jumped right up, ran to the front door, and stood in the open doorway. Right across the street from the police station. Swaying back and forth. In the nude.

On the way he could have made a nice seismogram, with the pendelum action.

By the time he got going he missed the "P" (Pressure) wave, but had plenty of of time remaining for the "S" (Shear) wave. However if he was composed, no record would be left on the floor.

 

[CuppaJoe]

Orchid, I clicked on it, but nothing came up about earthquakes.

The last big quake I was in, I was on a sidewalk headed to catch a bus. Time stood still, seemed like a good 15 seconds, took me a while to decide what to do, I could run into a building, wrong, because it had a glass enclosed entrance, I could run out into the street, I didn't like that idea so I just stood still and watched buildings do what they were designed to do: a just completed building rocked, older taller ones swayed, a very old one dropped its flagpole to break a window on another building. Just beyond my sightline several old brick buildings lost a few floors and were later razed. There was time to think, "if this is the last thing I see, isn't it interesting?" A young lady near me had a better plan, she just sat down on the sidewalk.

 

[Orchidflower]

I just clicked on it, CuppaJoe, and it worked? Interesting article on how to save yourself. I felt it was worth posting as I had no idea what to do, and this article made common sense to me.

 

[Lsbcal]

You would have to join the group on Yahoo to read it. Orchidflower, perhaps you could cut and paste it here? Or just the good parts?

 

[Ronstar]

I survived the 2006 and 2008 mild Illinois rumbles by sleeping through them.

Here's a link to 7 steps to earthquake safety:

Seven Steps to Earthquake Safety

Drop, cover, and hold on!

 

[Orchidflower]

I had no idea that link wouldn't work. Too bad as the article is excellent.
The premise of the article tells you that there is a 3 foot area around beds, chairs, sofas and your car that will protect you. When the ceilings and walls or the bridge crashes down on these items, they become crushed; however, that leaves about a 3 foot space around those items that you can go into the fetal position and protect yourself. Even paper doesn't condense all the way, so, if you happen to be a printer or standing next to a web press at your local newspaper when the earthquake hits, lie next to it and curl into the fetal position and you won't be totally crushed.
The article stated that the people who were killed in San Francisco from the concrete bridge collapsing on the bottom level could have been saved if they had gotten OUT of their cars and curled into the fetal position next to them.
He says to go to the outside of a building and NOT stand in a doorway. Door jambs can crack and crash.
Do not go under a desk. Desks will compress. Again, fetal position next to the desk in the 3 foot safety zone.

 

[figner]

There may be some merit to the "Triangle of Life" strategy in the article, but Snopes lists some significant caveats which I think are worth reading as well:

snopes.com: Triangle of Life

 

[Lsbcal]

So I guess this theory of the best way to take cover in an earthquake has been disputed by others. Not sure what to believe now.

 

[CuppaJoe]

There may be some merit to the "Triangle of Life" strategy in the article, but Snopes lists some significant caveats which I think are worth reading as well:

snopes.com: Triangle of Life

See also:
Triangle of Life - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Each situation is different, if I were to roll out of bed and stay there as they suggest I would be too close to a window and too high up to risk going down with the wall....

 

[ls99]

So I guess this theory of the best way to take cover in an earthquake has been disputed by others. Not sure what to believe now.

Luck is highest on the survivability list.
Followed by the level of consciousness and ability recognize earthquake and to evaluate your immediate surroundings for likely spots to stay alive in.
If you are in deep sleep, drunk out of your skull, stuck in a traffic or middle of a bridge, on the lower level of multi tiered highway or preoccupied with "high motion home entertainment" by the time you figure out what the problem is (earthquake) your solution and acting will be too late.

Best preventive measure is to stay away from high probability earthquake zones.

 

[SteveL]

The advice given about how to survive an earthquake is good for dealing with moderate events. I think of moderate as magnitude 6 or less. Above M6, frame houses come off their foundations. At some point above M6 people have an uncontrollable urge to get outside where danger is much greater.

We don't have much real experience with great quakes (above M7) in dense urban areas. If the wind is blowing moderately after a guake, there is great danger of a fire storm.

In Lake Washington, near Seattle, there are fully grown Douglas Fir trees which are over 150' tall, that are totally under water in the lake from an great event that occurred about 1000 years ago.

Our best hope is that none of us are nearby when one of these rare events take place.

 

[Orchidflower]

I have read that the Seattle area will have an earthquake sometime within the next 50 years. Not if..but when. I hope I'm not alive to even know about such a sad event when it happens....scary. I assume thousands would die in such a crowded area.