Warning: Ignore this “Triangle of Life” Crap

EXTRACT FROM DOUG COPP'S ARTICLE ON THE: "TRIANGLE OF LIFE"

My name is Doug Copp. I am the Rescue Chief and Disaster Manager of the American Rescue Team International (ARTI), the world's most experienced rescue team. The information in this article will save lives in an earthquake.

This is the start of an e.mail headed 'Earthquake Advice' my household received by well-meaning friends, no less than 6 times, in the wake of the series of earthquakes that have descended (should that be ascended?) on our region of N.Z.

My wife has also helped its viral-spread by sending it to numerous folk in our own address book.

Yet, something about the advice Mr Copp provides in his “Triangle of Life” email didn’t ring true to me, based-on what I had known previously about how to survive an earthquake.

What is loosely called ‘The Duck and Cover Approach’

That’s to say if you are inside during an earthquake get under a sturdy desk, table or bed.

Even to this layman Copps ‘Triangle of Life’ clearly contained dubious & plain stupid stuff like get out of your car in the middle of an earthquake and lay down next to the vehicle as being safer than staying inside and to avoid using door-frames as protection.

It had all the hallmarks of a hoax and on closer inspection my suspicions were proven right.

I simply googled ‘Doug Copps Earthquake’ and was greeted with page after page of rebuttals.

Even Wikipedia had a own page dedicated to exposing Mr Copp’s controversial and mostly dis-proven theories, on how to survive a earthquake.

Go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_of_Life

In short anyone who took Copps advice at face-value and employed-it during a major earthquake, shunning the ‘Duck and Cover’ tactics, would be increasing their chances of being injured or killed.

Red Cross have continually lambasted Copps ‘Triangle of Life’ and are sick of having to re-iterate the basics of earth-quake survival in the western-world.

Exploring this subject further Mr Copp himself proved-to-be what could be politely termed ‘a colourful character’ or if one was less charitable ‘a nut-case.’

He was discovered making an erroneous claim to The September 11th Compensation Fund and exposed as an impostor at the Twin-Towers site and told to leave or be arrested.

Nearly every-time there is major earthquake around the globe the ubiquitous Copp turns-up – uninvited – and generally makes a nuisance of himself.

The team alluded to in the name ARTI is more than often just Copp on his lonesome with his own range of life-saving equipment.

Having failed to convince every credible search and rescue organisation on the planet about his ‘theories’ the prolific Copp resorts to self-promotion via gullible media outlets and the internet.

Thus most Cantabrians now have his potentially dangerous theories (in a literal term of the word) residing in their inbox.

Note: If you have received this ‘Triangle of Life’ email what-ever you do IGNORE IT and tell everyone you know “it’s a lot of crap” and revert back to what we were all first taught at school – get under a desk, door-frame etc.