EarthquakeSurvivalTips:SaveYourLife!

Many people think that in case of an earthquake, they should "get under" something like a doorway or a desk, in order to avoid being hurt by falling objects. Rescue experts now say this is the wrong thing to do. For example, in the '85 Mexico City earthquake, they found hundreds of children in schools, crushed BY their desks. However, they could've survived by lying in the aisle NEXT to their desks.

So find a nice piece of furniture, a chair, a sofa, and lie down, or curl up next to it. A falling roof may compact the furniture, but will still leave a space for you to survive next to it. This also holds true if you are in a hotel room, especially at night. Get off the bed, and lie down next to it.

The people in San Francisco's '89 earthquake, the one where the upper freeway fell on the lower one, the people who died were crushed IN their cars. But they had time to get out and lie down NEXT to their cars. Yes, their cars were crushed, but there was three feet of space from top to bottom next to the vehicles. Plenty of space for people to survive and await a rescue.

Doorways and stairways are VERY unsafe. Stay away from those.

This is useful information for West Coasters, of course, but also anyone near the middle of the country (Missouri, Tennessee) where the New Madrid fault is. Also NYC is surprisingly earthquake prone. It's rare, but can happen.