Surviving an Earthquake--article

My friend antyne sent me this:

Remember that stuff about hiding under a table or standing in a
> doorway? Well, forget it! This is a real eye opener. It could save
> your life someday.
>
> EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON 'THE TRIANGLE OF LIFE'
>
> 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.
>
> 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 th em - NOT under 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 building 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 bed, 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 l ie
> 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 wo uld 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.