Sumantri - Ideation article - Hotels In Indonesia should deal with an EARTHQUAKE

Sumantri - Ideation article - Hotels In Indonesia should deal with an EARTHQUAKE by Sumantri

Yogjakarta Indonesia earthquake is inspired of this article, thousand people losses their home,land and life. One of the hotel is our sister hotel Sheraton Mustika Yogyakarta.

They were two gentlemen inspire me to write this article, first is Agus S Djamil, Indonesian geophysics work with Brunei government and His Excellency Ambassador of Indonesia in Brunei Darussalam Bapak Herijanto Suprapto.

Indonesia Java and Sumatra will never away from earthquake, hundred time happen every day with different level of scale rifter could be we feel it could be not, hundred of volcano deep of the ocean and on the mountain are a trigre of eartquake and mots of them are active.

The best solution on earthquake is to deal with. Prepare our self starting from infrastructure, building quality, equipment and human resources, knowledge know how what to do if happen, readiness of communities, evacuation area and inlcude practice among the communities. Deal with earthquake is not leave the place or evacuate the area or not stay there. Million people stay at Java and Sumatra for how many century is home for them is not just an island and not just the place they stay.

Japan, Iraq, Turkey some from few country which consider ready and except the situation that earthquake should be handled.

If we knew that Indonesia, Java, Sumatra and other island will never away from earthquake, start to prepare our self our family our comunitties and our company. Hotel in Indonesia should treat earthquake knowledge like " FIRE " knowledge. We should have a training, we should have evacuation drill, we must equip with tools and equipments. Why can for Fire and not for earthquake ? The following article may inspire you to ACT and prepare before next earthquake arrive.

TIPS FOR EARTHQUAKE SURVIVAL

Summarized from an article by Douglas F. Copp in American Survival Guide (July 2000) monitored for the Global Ideas Bank by Roger Knights. Doug Copp is Rescue Chief of the American Rescue Team International and has formulated tips for surviving an earthquake - the result of experiences in 60 countries and two years' work as the United Nations expert in Disaster Mitigation).

Triangles of life

In 1996, Copp made a film to prove his survival methodology. He recreated a model school and home, filling them with 20 mannequins. He collapsed the buildings with half the mannequins in 'duck and cover' position and the others in what Copp calls the triangle of life' position. 'The height of the object that remains acts as a kind of roofbeam to the void next to it, which will tend to end up with a sloping roof over it.' When buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside somewhat crushes them, but the height of the object that remains acts as a kind of roofbeam to the space or void next to it, which will tend to end up with a sloping roof over it. This space for survival Copp terms the triangle of life. The larger and stronger the object, the less it will compact. The less it compacts, the larger the void next to it will be. Such triangles are the most common shape to be found in a collapsed building.
When Copp and his crew re-entered the simulated earthquake scenario after the blast, they calculated that there would have been zero percent survival for the mannequins in 'duck and cover' position as against 100 per cent survival for those hiding in the triangles beside solid objects.
Copp is categorical about the importance of this technique: "Everyone who simply ducks and covers when buildings collapse is crushed to death - every time without exception."
Move next to a solid object
Position yourself next to a sofa, a car or another large bulky object that may compress slightly but will still leave a safe void next to it. A large safe would be ideal.
If you are in bed, roll off. If you find yourself in bed when an earthquake occurs, simply roll off it and you will find yourself in the safe void that exists around the bed.
Assume the fetal position
Putting yourself into the fetal position, as cats, dogs and children naturally tend to do, will enable you to survive in a smaller void. This is a natural survival instinct.
Avoid stairs
Never go to the stairs as this is the first part of a building to be damaged. Even if they are not destroyed by the earthquake, they may well collapse with the weight of panicking people attempting to flee down them.
Avoid the bottom floor
The higher you are in a building the less weight will be crushing down upon you and the safer you will be. The bottom floors have the combined weight of an entire building pressing upon them and the objects inside. Top floors meanwhile have less weight above them and are not usually collapsed in earthquakes.
Avoid doorways
In Copp's experience of crawling into 875 collapsed buildings, everyone who tries to shelter under doorways is killed. If the door frame falls forwards or backwards the ceiling will drop from above; if the door frame falls sideways you will be cut in half by the doorway. Though most authorities have now stopped publishing instructional pictures of people sheltering under doorways, the message has not yet got through and many people's first attempt at survival is to stand in these vulnerable spots.
Lie beside not inside your car
If rubble falls from above, most cars will leave a void three feet high immediately beside them.
Move to near the outer walls of buildings or outside them
The further inside you are from a building's outer perimeter, the greater the probability that your escape route will be blocked - or the route for a rescuer to reach you will be blocked.
It is rare for the ground outside buildings to open up and so the safest place to be in an earthquake is outside.
Create safe islands in public buildings
Unfolded paper does not compress and stacks of paper can make excellent triangles of life. Copp observed how boxes of newspapers could hold up whole buildings and now recommends that schools and other public buildings construct simple wood frames around piles of paper and put these in strategic positions. Rather than schoolchildren lying down under their desks and waiting to be killed, they can instead shelter in the voids by these safe islands.

This article taken from The American Rescue Team International, PO Box 489, Alameda, CA 94501, USA (tel & fax 001 510 523 5493; e-mail: amerrescue@aol.com or americanrescueteam@msn.com; web: www.amerrescue.org). Their website has broadcasts from the inside of collapsed buildings. The 'triangle of life' concept is copyright (c) ARTI and is used with the permission of Doug Copp, Rescue Chief.