Earthquake and Flee from 18th Floor
By Jian Shuo Wang on 2008-05-12 15:52 · NewsAt around 3:00 PM, it is clear that everyone feels dizzy on the 18th floor of the building. The feeling is similar with what I felt in 1996 on the same campus. I immediately ask the whole company to recuse from the building - I am happy that we are the first company in the building to flee to the outside. - The security looks puzzled when they saw us running down the fire stairs. I will talk more when I get back home from work. (We run so fast, and I didn’t bring my camera and mobile phone with me).
Everything is safe, but I don’t know what is happening in the center of the earthquake.
Update May 12, 2008
Now I am back to my small white table in my living room in my home. It is already confirmed that the earthquake happened in Wenchuan near Chengdu, at 7.8 magnitude. It is more than 2000 km away from Shanghai, but we felt the shack so clearly in Shanghai.
What to Do During Earthquake
The last time I felt earthquake is back in 1996 in Shanghai, when I was in grade 2 of Shanghai Jiaotong University. It was a stronger earthquake than this one (as felt from where I stayed). We were in the dorm at floor 6.
When we felt dizzy, and felt many furnitures in the rooms are moving, everyone rushed out of the room. At that time, I made a choice that I felt very regret at that moment, although it is the right action to take.
Because of the expectation of Luoyang to have a big earthquake within 10 years, the earthquake education in Luoyang was pretty good, and I was told the best place to stay during earthquake is the rest room. There are several reasons:
It is small in space, and concentration of building structures, so it is the strongest part of most residential building.
It has water if you are trapped, so you can survive longer.
It has long line of water pipes. Even if you are buried in the building, you can make some noise with the pipe so others can help you.
So, I grasped another friend and rushed into the washroom. Guess what happened?
At the very beginning, we heard many people rushing around and the whole building is very noise. They all rushed to the stairs to get out of the building.
Within 1 minute, the whole building is deadly silent, and there are only two people still in the building - my friend and myself. The worse thing is, the earthquake is stronger and stronger - it is obviously a bad idea to rush out to the stairs at this time.
So I understood that if the building did collapse, there will be only two people injured - my friend and me.
We are lucky that the earthquake passed very quickly, and when everything is fine, we are the last two person got out of the building.
Well. Today, and according to most instructions, we did the right thing, but…. I swear that I firmly believed that we made a wrong decision at that time…
This earthquake reminds me of the same thing. What is your choice the next time? To follow the majority or follow the “right” way?
The Current Earthquake
There is no report about the causality or injures in Wenchuan. I guess it will be another big number. It is too bad. My best wishes that after the recent many accidents in China, people get more experienced and can take more efficient action to rescue the people there.
20 Comments
First the snowstorm trapped millions, then the deadly disease infected hundreds of thousands, now the earthquake is shaking millions. What is next?
Anyone dare to visit Beijing during Olympics?
Though it's fairly inappropriate to gloat over other people's misfortune, I do see some grain of truth in your posting. Having initially being considered the most auspicious year in the new millennium, 2008 has in reality turned out to be the most horrible one so far.
Is this the Almighty's form of punishing the incompetent Chinese leaders? I wish it was, but unfortunately it isn't because it's not the leaders who are affected most but the people of China. I guess the only effective wake-up call would be an incident that causes Zhongnanhai or some of the other regional government headquarters to crumble.
I am more concerned about the collapse of the infrastructure (buildings, roads, etc) and the ensuing coverup since everyone konws how those projects are built. (Government officials pocket the big kickbacks while the builders use low-quality materials and below-standard procedures to make up for the profit margin.)
Things may unfold faster than anyone can imagine!
Also, I hope they are able to rescue the 900 students that are trapped. Maybe we can lay this torch controversy aside as the world joins in to help aid the people of Sichuan.
As for running or hiding, who knows what's right. On one hand, if the building falls while you're trying to get out, you could die. On the other hand, if you're in the building when it falls, you could die.
But of course if the exit is near me, I'd run.
I don't know whether the rest room is the best place, or to go down the stairs,
but if you can find the right answer, please tell us. However, please consider
another thought. Does your company/school practice good fire drills? It is
important to evacuate safely, but also to assemble together and count the
escapees. Otherwise it might not be possible to identify who is trapped inside.
Many firefighters or rescue workers have lost their lives going into buildings
when the survivors have already escaped--this of course was true also in New
York on 9/11. Please consider the importance of appointing fire wardens,
keeping track of building occupants, and assembling and counting the escapees.
This is a simple precaution that is usually overlooked, and it needs leadership
and practice to enforce the habit.
Another thought is that technology companies bear a special responsibility in
such disasters. The mobile phone network collapsed in Sichuan; some 2,300
towers fell down in the earthquake, and the system was jammed. The technology
is available to transmit radio signals from handset to handset, bypassing the towers,
but it has not been put into place anywhere and so cannot be used when it is needed
in such a disaster. In America it will not be implemented because of the dominance
of the big cellphone companies. Could Chinese companies respond to the challenge?
Would the PRC government cooperate by ceding some power away from the big
Chinese telecommunications companies and delegating some power to the local users?
Most mobile phones are made in China, why can't China solve this problem and make
money from it as well as saving lives?
A third thought is to improve earthquake forecasting. You can see here that there are
traditional means of earthquake forecasting:
http://news.163.com/08/0512/17/4BOSR7O20001124J.html
However, most of these reports are after the fact so maybe superstition. More importantly,
there was a recent failure of an expensive forecast system in Japan. It is easy to hook a
seismograph to a networked computer. Wouldn't the signal travel on the Internet faster
than through the earth? We need to improve this forecasting system. Cannot talented
Chinese engineers tackle this problem and solve it where Japanese have not?
Right now we must deal with the suffering of the survivors. Later this will be forgotten.
Will the lessons be learned? Earthquakes, typhoons, fires, happen infrequently. Most
people are fatalistic, someone else is accountable. I think if you want to live happily
you must think now about these things; during an earthquake you will be too dizzy to
decide whether to run down stairs or hide in the bathroom.
That said, AussiePB, keep hope for your friend and his family! Effective communication will be impossible for a long time from that area. As joe.shuren just said, hand-radios will be helpful, but most telephone systems will be completely ineffective for quite a while.
I will keep all those affected in my thoughts, and of course, Jian Shuo, it goes without saying that we are all very glad to hear that you and your family were not affected by this disaster!
A system to measure accumulated tensions in tectonic plaques and seismic faults could be build to give a measure of energy accumulated on earth, and possible strength and like hood of earthquakes. I think it is already done in Japan.
Areas can be assigned risk levels according to measurements from such a system. Risk levels will in turn define construction standards and city planing for areas where risk is high or severe.
Same thing for education standards in school and adult people on correct behavior and protection measures during earthquakes.
Redundancies and duplications should be build in transportation, telecommunication and electric power distribution infrastructures in high risk areas.
Same thing should be done with in medical facilities and any installation necessary for providing first help in case of major earthquake.
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It is very dangerous to be anywhere near the door way, because the door frame can collapse and cut you in half. If you did not get out in time, stay away from the stair ways. Do not ever go under a bed, or desk, because this objects can collapse under weight, and smashed you. Next to it is the best place to be. I think it is call the "Triangle of survival" If you are working in the office, the printing room is great, because usually, they have plenty of paper, and paper compress very little, so, your chance of surviving it is much better.
I hope this one day help someone in need.