'The Triangle of Life'... safe or not?

    When I was small, I always put in mind  the lessons taught by my teachers and some elders to go under a table, bed or any big furnitures during an earthquake. I taught my kids the same lesson knowing that it was the right and safe thing to do in that kind of situation till I read an article two years ago of Doug Copp, a Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI ). Just click the link to read an extract of the article about his advise      
                                                                                                     
                                 http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_triangle_of_life.htm

    Here are also photos by Yusra_malik (found on 'all voices' website) of the so called 'Triangle of Life' to show illustrations of Doug's advice.

                                 

Doug Copp's theory in accordance with the term of 'Wikipedia' :

    'According to Copp's theory, when buildings collapse, the weight of the ceilings falling upon the objects or furniture inside tends to crush them, but the height of the object that remains acts as a kind of roof beam over the space or void next to it, which will tend to end up with a sloping roof over it. Copp terms this space for survival as 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.'

    On the contrary, lots of professional critics discredited Doug for his advice and saying that 'The Triangle of Life' is a misguided idea. Lots of them say that the 'Drop, Cover and Hold' theory is still better. To read more about this theory, please check this link 

                                                                             http://www.earthquakesolutions.com/id44.html 

    No matter which theory is true or not, I believe it will still be a case to case basis and one earthquake experience will not always be the same as the last one. So my only concern is that whenever we are in that situation, we should always be alert and must not panic because once we panic, we lose our concentration on what the right thing is all about. And if anyone of you has got a better idea, please don't hesitate to leave your comment below. Our friends will be very grateful and happy to hear a word from you about lessons from a past earthquake experience. Always be safe everyone!