Nobody’s Fault, but Experts Call Old Notions of Quake Safety Shaky

Conventional wisdom says that during an earthquake, you run to the nearest doorway and stay there until the shaking stops.

But an increasing number of earthquake preparedness experts are suggesting that people instead take shelter under a desk or table in an approach called “Duck, Cover and Hold.”

This approach is crucial in high-rise buildings, where many interior walls may buckle during an earthquake because they are not attached to structural beams, said Michael Durkin, a USC architecture professor who has completed several studies on the subject.

“If you are going to get under something,” Durkin said, “you need to get under something that offers protection.”

Doorways can also be hazardous in homes, because the shaking can slam doors into people or objects can fly across the room and injure them, several experts said.

“Where you take cover depends on the design of the structure,” said Paul Flores, director of the Southern California Earthquake Preparedness Project. “We were concerned that giving the straight recommendation to get under a doorway may not be the best thing. . . . Getting under a heavy piece of furniture in a couple of seconds is the best recommendation you can give people.”

Last week, “Duck, Cover and Hold” was promoted at an earthquake preparedness conference here, attended by about 300 school officials from Southeast Los Angeles County.

Here’s how the approach works: When an earthquake begins, duck beneath a desk or table, crouch in a fetal position, cover your head by locking the elbows tight to your ears and hold onto a leg of the desk or table with both hands.

Crouching underneath will enable you to shield most or all of the body with the desk. The arms protect the head and face from flying objects. Holding on is important because a temblor may move even heavy furniture.

“Duck, Cover and Hold” is a modification of the “drop and cover” bomb drills that schoolchildren practiced in the 1960s. In 1984, the California Legislature mandated earthquake preparedness in all public schools. Drop drills made a comeback. In part because of Durkin’s research, the new approach has moved beyond the school grounds in the last few years.

Since about 1982, Durkin has studied how people were injured during earthquakes in Mexico, Chile and California. Dramatic testimony about the reliability of furniture as shields emerged from the 1983 earthquake in Mexico City, where desks were the only thing that kept floors of buildings from collapsing on each other like stacks of pancakes.

Although U.S. construction standards are superior to those of Mexico, Durkin said there is no proof that people are better off standing in doorways during earthquakes. In some cases, he said, standing in doorways has resulted in injuries.

“People who stand in the front door of a building that is unreinforced are subject to getting hit by things falling off the front walls,” Durkin said. “I don’t think there are a lot of strong doorway advocates around.”

In addition to the Southern California Earthquake Preparedness Project, others joining the “Duck, Cover and Hold” movement include the Bay Area Regional Earthquake Preparedness Project in Northern California, the Downey-based Earthquake Preparedness Society and the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Red Cross Stresses Doorways

However, one group that still promotes doorways is the American Red Cross. Pat Snyder, the group’s national chairwoman of disaster services, said that “the jury is still out” on whether desks are better than doorways.

“I’m hesitant to change the message (about doorways) based on Durkin’s studies,” Snyder said. “If it were a larger study, I think I would have more confidence in it.”

The Red Cross and other agencies are trying to avoid complicated directions for what to do during a tremor, she said: “I hate giving people too many choices. It’s too confusing. People won’t remember anything. . . . I feel we should all be singing from the same sheet of music.”

However, Snyder said her personal first choice would be to take cover under a desk or counter. “It’s the falling things that are going to get you,” she said.

If there is no piece of heavy furniture available, Flores recommended taking refuge in a hallway free from the threat of flying glass or crouching next to a wall.

When outdoors, people should assume a face-down fetal position on the ground and cover their heads with their arms, he said.

Snyder said Durkin’s research is mostly responsible for more people boarding the “Duck, Cover and Hold” bandwagon, but Henry Johnson of the Los Angeles Fire Department said there is also engineering research to support the new approach.

The doorway recommendation is based on “old knowledge about old buildings,” said Johnson, a fire and safety specialist with the department. “This change is a natural response to our new information on earthquakes and what they do to buildings.”

Feel Less Like Victims

In addition to safety advantages, some quake preparedness experts believe that there are psychological benefits to “Duck, Cover and Hold.” Being trained to duck and hold on rather than stumble to a doorway makes people feel less like victims of a temblor, said Jan Smith, emergency services coordinator for Ventura County.

“I cannot say that trying to brace myself in a moving door frame is going to allow me the psychological comfort that I would have holding on to a desk and having some control over my body,” said Smith, who designed an earthquake preparedness program for Ventura County’s 22 school districts.

“I now look at a doorway and say, ‘It’s not a structural problem, it’s a psychological problem.’ ”

Durkin’s studies also found that in cases other than a building collapse, most earthquake injuries occur when people trip or are hit by falling objects as they run outside or to a doorway. He suggested that people take a few seconds to assess the situation and decide where to go rather than taking panicky actions that can result in injury.

‘Different Kinds of Risks’

Several specialists warned against telling people that they absolutely have to be either under a doorway or a desk. In fact, Durkin said a major finding of his studies is that “people have different kinds of risks, depending on the kinds of physical settings they live and work in.”

Durkin and others recommended a situational approach to preparedness in which people assess the hazards in the home and workplace and develop plans accordingly.

But he said more and more experts believe the first move should always be to get under furniture.