When an earthquake occurs, whether you are indoors or outdoors, keeping calm and taking relevant actions is the best way to protect yourself.
Indoor Safety Tips
If you happen to be indoors when the earthquake occurs, you should continue to stay indoors at this time, do not try to run to other rooms or even rush outdoors, and immediately protect yourself according to the safety principle of [get down] [cover] [stabilize] to prevent things [shaken down] or even collapsed houses from hurting you.
Step 1 Get down
Immediately take the posture of supporting the ground with both hands and knees to lie down. This posture has a low center of gravity, is not easy to fall down in the earthquake, and can move quickly when necessary.
At the same time, protect your head and neck with your arms or suitable objects at hand to prevent something from falling and hitting you.
Step 2: Cover
It is best to find a solid table as a cover and try to hide your body (at least head and neck) under the table.
Of course, not every room happens to have a table! If not, try to move to the side of the strong pillar, the corner without large furniture, the low furniture, must be close to the corner or furniture as a cover, at the same time with hands and arms to protect the head and neck.
But some places are definitely not suitable for cover:
- Don’t hide in the corner beside the big furniture. Once the furniture falls down, it is a fatal threat. Don’t hide under the doorframe, it’s not safe there either! During an earthquake, anything that falls may hurt you. Hiding under the doorframe cannot prevent any dangerous situation. At the same time, we should also avoid choosing positions close to glass windows, porcelain, lamps, articles placed on elevated roads and decorations as cover. In short, we should also stay away from things that usually look weak and wobbly in panic.
Step 3 Stay steady
During the shaking, be sure to hide in a relatively safe shelter all the time and do not run around until the shaking stops.
Running out at this time, on the one hand, it is easy to be hit by other objects; On the other hand, people may not be able to stand firm at this time, and any accident may happen.
If you were in the kitchen or bed at the time of the earthquake, then besides the above 3 points, you have other things to pay attention to:
1. If you are in the kitchen, quickly turn off the induction cooker, natural gas, etc., and then find a place to hide;
2. If you are in bed, don’t panic. Protect your head with a pillow in the first place. If you roll out of bed or rush to the door in panic, the glass debris that has been shaken off the ground may directly stick to you.
Outdoor Safety Tips
If you are outdoors when the earthquake occurs, stay away from high-rise buildings, electric wires, sewers, and various oil and gas pipelines in the first place.
Step 1 Stay away from buildings
When an earthquake occurs, some decorations on the windows and walls of buildings are very easy to fall off. Remember not to approach these dangerous areas and take the posture of lowering the body’s center of gravity as mentioned above until the earthquake stops.
2. Slow down gradually and stay in the car when driving.
If you were driving when the earthquake occurred, don’t brake sharply, let alone rush out of the car!
First find a safer roadside to stop and pay attention to avoid telegraph poles, overpasses, overpasses or elevated sections. Stay in the car and press the brake. Turn on the radio and listen for an emergency notice of the earthquake.
During this period, the car may wobble, but it is still a relatively safe place to escape.
However, if one’s position is far away from a safe area when an earthquake occurs and one needs to drive to a safe area, one should be alert to abnormal situations on the road when driving, including falling telegraph poles and wires, broken roads, collapse of elevated roads and bridges, etc.
Security Tips under Special Conditions
No matter in what, if the surrounding conditions permit, we should try our best to [get down] [cover] [stabilize] these three points, and use everything available to protect our head and neck.
1. Persons with limited movement
If you cannot lie prone on the ground immediately due to limited movement, you can keep your seat according to your own conditions. If you are sitting in a wheelchair, lock the wheelchair wheels quickly to prevent the wheelchair from sliding around uncontrollably and causing accidents.
At the same time, thicker books, pillows or arms should be used to protect the head and neck to minimize the possible damage caused by falling or flying objects.
2. Being in a tall building
Get down, look for cover and hide until the earthquake is over, avoid windows, etc. At this time, power failure may occur, and indoor fire extinguishers will start sprinkling water. Don’t panic.
Remember not to use the elevator!
3. In the elevator
If you happen to be trapped in the elevator when the earthquake occurs, try to pat the elevator door hard or knock with metal objects to attract others’ attention as much as possible and wait for rescue.
4. The crowded room
Get down, look for cover and hide until the earthquake is over. Don’t rush to the exit blindly, there will definitely be many people flocking to the exit at this time, and there may be stampedes.
5. Being in a stadium or cinema
Stay in your seat until the earthquake is over. Even if the earthquake is over, be careful of aftershocks and be vigilant when leaving the scene.
6. At the seaside
Get down, look for cover and hide until the earthquake is over. It is necessary to estimate the duration of the earthquake. If the violent shaking lasts for more than 20 seconds, it may be accompanied by tsunami. Take the time to run to a higher ground (at least 3 kilometers from the coast, it is safer to be 30 meters above sea level).
7. Downstream of the dam
During a severe earthquake, the dam may collapse at any time. If you are downstream of the dam, look for an emergency evacuation route and leave the site as soon as possible.