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The email that is still being widely circulated, known as the ‘Triangle of Life’, as a means of surviving an earthquake, is creating an excess of controversy.
Studies over the last several decades, of injuries and deaths caused by earthquakes, reveal that a person is more likely to be killed or hurt by flying objects, such as bookcases, televisions, lamps, glass, etc., than to die in a collapsed building.
Earthquakes, which often last only seconds, occur without warning and can be so violent there is no time to run or crawl to safety. More often than not people are simply knocked to the ground.
The most widely accepted method for surviving an earthquake is to immediately:
•DROP down onto your knees (before the earthquakes knock you down). This position makes you a smaller target but allows you to still move if necessary.
•COVER your head and neck (or your entire body) under a strong table or desk. If there is no table to get under, get down near an interior wall and cover your head and neck with your arms and hands. Outer walls have windows that can break and spew glass everywhere.
•HOLD ON to the furniture or to your head and neck until the shaking stops. Be prepared to move with your shelter if the shaking shifts it around.
The ‘Triangle of Life’ method suggests lying beside furniture, or stopping the car and lying down beside it (that is provided the car doesn’t move on top of you). Official rescue teams, researchers, emergency managers and school safety advocates all agree that the ‘Triangle of Life’ method is considered dangerous and the credibility of the main advocate needs to be challenged.
Experts agree that the ‘Triangle of Life’ theory is based on several miscalculations:
• Residents have time to move to a desired location
• Buildings always collapse and crush all the furniture
• Residents can always anticipate how their building might collapse
• Residents can anticipate the location of survivable void spaces
• The car you get out of and lie down beside is going to remain stationary.
All say the old method of racing for a door frame was okay if you are in an adobe house with a heavy ceiling, where the frames were the strongest part. Today with stricter building codes, the doorframes are no stronger than any other part of the building.
Experts also firmly agree that the tried and trusted method of ‘Drop Cover and Hold On’ is still the safest method of surviving an earthquake.
About Triangle of Life Save You
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Dr Wendy Stenberg-Tendys and her husband are CEO's of YouMe Support Foundation (http://youmesupport.org) provide high school education grants for children who are without hope. You can help in this really great project by taking a few minutes to check out the Sponsor a Student program at Win a Resort (http://winaresort.com). It really will change your life.
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