Earthquake ‘fad’
I am a retired geologist who specialized in earthquake awareness and safety.
Imagine my horror when I discovered that some schools are instructing children according to an unsubstantiated fad called “The Triangle of Life.”
The children are told that instead of seeking immediate cover, they are to walk across an open area full of falling debris to the interior of an outside wall.
How completely absurd.
Anyone who has been in an earthquake, and I have been in several, will tell you nobody walks anywhere.
At best, these children will be on hands and knees dodging falling debris to get to a wall that legitimate earthquake research and personal experience shows will be one of the first structures to collapse.
I was in the Nisqually earthquake.
The outside wall of the building I was in was the first to collapse.
That’s not the first time I’ve seen that happen.
Take a good look at the Los Angeles and Mexico City earthquake pictures.
How many outside walls do you see standing?
The USGS issued a statement that “The Triangle of Life” is misguided and that buildings constructed in the U.S. do not collapse according to this unsubstantiated fad.
Think about this.
Do you want your children to seek immediate shelter or to risk death or injury by crawling through falling debris to get to a structure that research shows will be one of the first to collapse?
Elaine Bickle,
Port Angeles