How to Survive an Earthquake
Excerpt from a Life Saving Professional's Article-----
The first building I ever crawled inside of was a school in Mexico
City during the 1985 earthquake. Every child was under their 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 and I wondered why the children were not in the aisles. I didn't
at the time know that the children were told to hide under something. 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. 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 They . are everywhere.
TEN TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SAFETY
1) Most everyone who simply "ducks and covers" WHEN BUILDINGS 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 large bulky object that will compress slightly but leave avoid 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.
Originally Posted by amberstar702
Secondly, I received the earthquake message in an email yesterday from my ex son-in-law and felt it could be helpful for people living in earthquake prone areas. Thirdly, while I have some psychic abilities (really!), predicting earthquakes is not one of them. 
If I can provide some information to keep people safe, that is very rewarding.
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