We have 11 rooms in our house and several hallways. Our house is not the safest place to be during an earthquake, because we have lots of huge ornaments, instruments, and paintings hanging up all over our house. With just a bit of shuddering, everything will fall down. I remember there was a tiny earthquake here once and all of the cupboards in our kitchen fell down. A huge number of plates, glasses, bowls, and platters broke. We got a safer kind of cupboards, but the same thing could happen to the rest of our house. However, I researched more about being safe in earthquakes and I found this article that said it's safer to hide right next to something relatively sturdy than right underneath it. This is because if the ceiling were to cave in, it would fall on top of the table or desk. This would cause the distance to be greater from the ceiling and you. However, things that it is possible to hide under are always good things to be next to.
Living Room and Dining Room:
This is one of the most dangerous parts of our house. We have a whole collection of paintings and instruments hanging up that could fall down any second. A safe spot could be under our dining room table, because it's very sturdy, doesn't have unstable feet, and would protect whoever is under it from the glass cabinets in that area. Otherwise, there is not really anywhere to go in the event of an earthquake.
Kitchen:
There are also not very many places to hide in the event of an earthquake. In this case, the most stable place to be would be under the doorway. Hiding under the table would not be a very smart thing to do because the legs are extremely wobbly and the top part of the table would most likely just collapse on top of whoever is hiding underneath it. Some dangerous things are the kitchen cupboards, the refrigerator, and possibly the distiller (should the earthquake be a great one).
Bathrooms:
One word - doorways.
My Room:
In this case, I would hide under my desk, which has a very thick top and is actually very stable. This would protect me from the windows and possibly the ceiling, since I am all the way on the 3rd floor and only one layer would collapse on me.
Guest Bedroom:
This one is also kind of complicated. There is nearly nothing that one would be able to hide under, so I would say to stand either in the doorway or in one of the corners of the room. The middle of the room is usually the part that collapses, so the corners would be safer. Also there is nothing near the corners that would actually collapse on top of you if you were to hide there.
No comments:
Post a Comment