Triangle of Life

Here's a brief introduction to this theory: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_of_Life
Generally, it's really hard to tell whther this theory is just pseudo science or an unaccepted truth. In different corners of the world with different structure of architectures, it's kind of impossible to set up a universal safe rule. But anyway, we'd like to check it out. So we set up a fishtank, with several model desks inside. And then... we poured different meterials on them. We tried wooden sticks and wooden bars. Considering the roofs may collapse, our final choice of material for roofs is large sheets of ice... In today's experiment, it seems that for our sturdy desks, hiding under them and in the triangle areas are both safe. Sometimes there would be space at the corner of the walls as well. But for the fragile desks, no matter staying under it or beside it, things would always get crushed. However, in the last experiment with ice which was 20mm thick, one of the sturdy tables also get crushed, but still with a triangular space beside it. Tomorrow we'll try another set of experiment with ice frozen with cheesecloth in it, mimicing concrete with steels. Although this experiment is not really accurate due to the models and unreal materials, but still we hope it can reveal a glimpse of the objective laws.

Collapsing buildings = Major cause of death.

During an earthquake, what causes loss of life? We think it would be useful to verify our assumption that collapsing buildings/ falling rubble is a major cause of death and/or injury. Detailed below is some of the research which we have found online.


Here is a useful excerpt from http://science.jrank.org/pages/2224/Earthquake-Collapse-buildings.html :



"To construct a house or building under static conditions, the materials need only to be stacked up, attached to each other, and balanced. These kinds of buildings are not designed to accelerate rapidly and change directions like cars or airplanes. Buildings in seismically active areas, however, must be designed and built to withstand the dynamic acceleration that can occur during an earthquake. Large buildings and structures such as bridges, in particular, must be designed so that vibrations arising from earthquakes are damped and not amplified.
Because noticeable earthquakes are rare in most areas, people may not recognize that the objects and buildings around them represent potential hazards. It is not movement of the ground surface alone that kills people. Instead, deaths from earthquakes result from the collapse of buildings and falling objects in them, fires, and tsunamis. The type of construction that causes the most fatal injuries in earthquakes is unreinforced brick, stone, or concrete buildings that tend not to be flexible and to collapse when shaken.
The most earthquake-resistant type of home is a low wooden structure that is anchored to its foundation and sheathed with thick plywood. Some of the traditional architecture of Japan approximates this shock-resistant design, including wooden buildings that are more than a thousand years old. Unfortunately, wood and paper houses can be easily ignited in the fires that are common after large earthquakes. Both unreinforced masonry and shock-resistant wood houses are used by different cultures in areas of high earthquake risk."



Here is another excerpt, from http://eqseis.geosc.psu.edu/~cammon/HTML/Classes/IntroQuakes/Notes/earthquake_effects.html :

"The first step in preparing structures for shaking is to understand how buildings respond to ground motions- this is the field of study for earthquake and structural engineers. When the ground shakes, buildings respond to the accelerations transmitted from the ground through the structure's foundation. The inertia of the building (it wants to stay at rest) can cause shearing of the structure which can concentrate stresses on the weak walls or joints in the structure resulting in failure or perhaps total collapse. The type of shaking and the frequency of shaking depends on the structure. Tall buildings tend to amplify the motions of longer period motions when compared with small buildings. Each structure has a resonance frequency that is characteristic of the building. Predicting the precise behavior of buildings is complicated, a rule of thumb is that the period of resonance is about equal to 0.1 times the number of stories in the structure. Thus Macelwane Hall resonates at about 0.3 seconds period, and Griesedeck at about 1.4 seconds. Taller buildings also tend to shake longer than short buildings, which can make them relatively more susceptible to damage. Fortunately many tall buildings are constructed to withstand strong winds and some precautions have been taken to reduce their tendency to shake. And they can be made resistant to earthquake vibrations. In many regions of limited resources and/or old structures, the structures are not very well suited to earthquake induced strains and collapse of adobe-style construction has caused thousands of deaths in the last decade. The worst possible structure for earthquake regions is the unreinforced masonry (which is common in the St. Louis area)."

Here is a third useful source, "SEISMIC VULNERABILITY AND COLLAPSE PROBABILITY ASSESSMENT 

OF BUILDINGS IN GREECE", from the Second International Workshop on Disaster Casualties in  June 2009, http://pager.world-housing.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Pomonis_Antonios.pdf :

"The PAGER methodology therefore aims to rapidly  estimate human casualties from earthquakes based on the fact that most earthquake fatalities around the globe are linked to the collapse of buildings (Allen et al., 2009). A study into the causes of death from earthquakes in the period 1900-1999 (1.6 million victims worldwide) estimated that approximately 70-75% of lives were lost due to building collapse, while the remaining 25-30% due to other causes such as, tsunami, landslides and fire following the seismic event (Spence, 2003). This continues to be the case to this day despite the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami which killed 228,000 people, because an additional 240,000 building-collapse-related deaths took place in the 2000-2008 period, bringing the total life loss in the 1900-2008 period to nearly 2.15 million people (assuming that the loss of life in the 1976 Tangshan earthquake is as officially reported (243,000) instead of unofficial estimates of as many as 655,000 deaths)."

Coincidental Email

After choosing our G4 project question it, I found it coincidental when a few days after the Japan earthquake I received this forwarded email from my grandfather. After successive natural disasters such as the earthquake in New Zealand, then in Japan it is interesting how such articles are quickly spread over the internet. 

This is simply one person's view on earthquake safety.

Where to Go During an Earthquake
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'

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, and 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.

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 - 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 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. 

Source:
http://www.amerrescue.org/

Quakesafe Introduction

As an earthquake strikes, what can you do? Where is the safest place go? Should you stay still? When the terrible earthquake of a 8.9 magnitude hit Japan, March 15, 2011, thousands of people were killed due to a variety of reasons. A major cause of death in earthquakes is falling rubble of collapsing buildings.
For example, in the recent Christchurch Earthquake in New Zealand, almost the entire central business district was razed. The 6.3 magnitude quake struck at 12:51pm, while the city was full of workers. Hundreds of people were trapped within the rubble of two large buildings alone and this was the main cause of the 182 deaths.


As a group we decided for our group 4 project to explore the question, "What is the safest place in a room during an earthquake", not necessarily to come up with an answer to this question but to see what sort of answers are already available, see what people in our school community already know about earthquake safety and finally draft a conclusion based on the scientific research and opinions available to us.


Between us we already have a general knowledge, or rather basic education, of general earthquake safety. We have been told to do many things, some contradictory to each other. They include: standing in door ways, crouching under a solid table, curling up in the foetal position, standing by an elevator shaft, getting outside quickly and getting away from glass.


From now on, this blog will be dedicated to our research into this question, experiments, and any information we come across. Hopefully it will provide valuable knowledge for us and anyone who reads this.


Sources:

  (http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/christchurch-earthquake/quake-victims/) 

(http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/christchurch-earthquake-2011/4801597/Seven-more-names-of-earthquake-victims-out)