Friday, March 18, 2005
If you get the shakes
This week's cover story in the San Diego Reader is about the prevalence of unreinforced masonry buildings in San Diego and the danger they pose in the event of a major earthquake.
There is also a sidebar about what is the safest location or position to take in a building if a quake hits. Turns out the old conventional wisdom--head for the doorway--is wrong. It's based on old adobe construction, where the wood frame doorway was the thing most likely to survive when an all-adobe structure collapsed. But nowadays, w/ modern construction techniques, the doorway is actually one of the least safe places to be.
Surprisingly, not much research has been done on this topic. Right now the consensus is gravitating (no pun intended) to three positions. One is to drop, and cover (your head, etc.) and hold a fetal-like position. A second theory is to crouch right up next to some large piece of furniture, b/c if the ceiling collapses, the object will create a small pocket of safety around itself. The third is to drop to your knees and scrunch your body into as small a space as possible. Being on your knees gives you more stability than curling into a ball, and you can possibly elbow-crawl away from danger.
I, like one of the people quoted in the article, was still assuming doorways were the right place to head. I remember a college roomie who grew up out here had been taught the same. I'm glad I ran across this article to learn the newer thinking. Hopefully it's knowledge I'll never have to apply....
There is also a sidebar about what is the safest location or position to take in a building if a quake hits. Turns out the old conventional wisdom--head for the doorway--is wrong. It's based on old adobe construction, where the wood frame doorway was the thing most likely to survive when an all-adobe structure collapsed. But nowadays, w/ modern construction techniques, the doorway is actually one of the least safe places to be.
Surprisingly, not much research has been done on this topic. Right now the consensus is gravitating (no pun intended) to three positions. One is to drop, and cover (your head, etc.) and hold a fetal-like position. A second theory is to crouch right up next to some large piece of furniture, b/c if the ceiling collapses, the object will create a small pocket of safety around itself. The third is to drop to your knees and scrunch your body into as small a space as possible. Being on your knees gives you more stability than curling into a ball, and you can possibly elbow-crawl away from danger.
I, like one of the people quoted in the article, was still assuming doorways were the right place to head. I remember a college roomie who grew up out here had been taught the same. I'm glad I ran across this article to learn the newer thinking. Hopefully it's knowledge I'll never have to apply....
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