Each
person can protect his/her life and relatives against the
earthquake hazards by learning the safety recommendations and
applying them.
The safety measures:
-Check
your house to see whether it is damageable against an
earthquake.The fire that resulted from the earthquake can be
created because of breakage in oil’s and gase’s pipes or from
separating of supplie’s junctions. So, you should fasten
heater and other kerosene supplies and gas burner by nut and
screw and the rest available objects, in its place. If
possible you should use flexible junctions. You should fasten
heavy objects like books and hanging plants, lamps in their
place.
-Put big and heavy objects in lower part of shelves and fasten
articles to the wall according to safety procedures.
-Heavy objects and tall house hold objects such as
refrigerator, free-standing cabinets, and bookcases are
counted as insecure objects that you should fasten them in
their place. If they aren’t secure, you should get away from
them during an earthquake.
-Check heater’s pipe and gable roofs, extinct the possibility
of their falling during an earthquake. You should take the
objects that are in external parts of building such as cooler,
hanging plants near the window and foodstuffs containers and
put them in safe place.
-Don’t pour dangerous material such as chemical materials,
acids, sterilized materials in French containers.
In construction affairs or repairing old buildings you should
follow structural codes for reducing earthquake hazards.
-Prepare a map from your house in order to know the safe
places, exits and the place of water and electricity and gas
at main switches.
-Put your bag containing necessary supplies in a safe place,
where accessing to it is easy, and also aware family members
of its hiding place.
The family
members should:
-All members
should learn how to cut off the electric current and close
water, gas and etc, at main switches.
-As much as possible they should try to learn first-aid,
because after an intensive earthquake, clinics and hospitals
will be crowded and as a result the access to medical
possibilities will be difficult.
-Occasionally family members should make a scene of a supposed
earthquake in the house and practice safety and prevention
procedures against an earthquake by the help of all family
members.
-They should extinct probable earthquake’s accidents in their
house, for example they should change the place of their
sleeping to some where away from windows, check exits and
corridors and transfer objects that may close these places to
another places.
-They should know the emergency exits, alarm bells and fire
extinguishers in order to use them at suitable time
immediately and it is important that they can help each other.
-They should know their neighborhood’s skills, because it’s
may extend how many days until rescues group arrive.
-Occasionally, also they must consult with family members
about the earthquake and other natural difficulties and
memorize necessary recommendations.
Safety recommendations
before an earthquake in official buildings
There are some
old administrative buildings and without necessary resistance
against an intense earthquake. In such cases should consult
with experts and administrators for making the buildings
resistant.
- Check
decorative pieces of rooms’ ceils in order to correct setting
up.
-Fluorescent bulbs on the rooms’ ceils should be fastened in
their place and at necessary time be controlled by two wires
in their both sides.
-Lamps should be fastened and secured on the ceil.
-Inside building cooler’s canals and airvents should be firmed
in their place in correct way so as to reduce the possibility
of their falling during an earthquake.
-Loudspeakers that are set up in different places of corridor
should be fastened so as to reduce the possibility of their
shaking during an earthquake. In fact their presence is
necessary. Since building’s electric current may be
disconnected and some people be buried under the debris, in
this case necessary messages can be send to them.
-The place of putting communicational and dispatching systems
should be checked exactly, and gain confidence of their
safety.
-The creation of dispatching system inside building through
wireless and portable phones in every part can be useful for
easing gathering information about people and the situation of
the place.
-Put fire extinguishers along with the guide of how to use
them in determined distances, and make employees aware of
their places.
-Recognize insecure places inside building such as
laboratories, workshops etc and perform safety operations for
them and also fasten insecure objects in their place.
ü By controlling and cooperation of whole units of dangerous
and inflammable materials should be kept outside of
administrative buildings.
-Prepare a list of employee’s names and their rooms in all
floors.
-Prepare a map from all important places of building, rooms,
corridors, stairs and warehouses position.
-Prepare a list of including whole possessions and
department’s properties for estimating probable damages after
an earthquake.
-Prepare a list of all necessary phone numbers such as fire
stations, the Red Crescent, hospitals and clinics specially,
the nearest place to your work’s place (administrative
building).
-By cooperation of employees in different units, control big
administrative instruments like, computers, editing and copy
system by metalic fastenings or firm belts, because there is
the possibility of their displacing during an earthquake or
they may close doors and exits.
-By cooperation of employees, shelves, files and bookcases
should be fastened to wall by using suitable fastenings.
-Don’t put heavy objects and the rest objects on archive
shelves that might fall on you.
-Ask the employees not to put their work’s table near French
windows under the lamps and hanging objects.
-Firm partitions in their places by metallic fastenings in all
units.
ü Be sure that employees lock administrative files when they
don’t use them.
-Cooperating with each other, control the objects that have
the possibility of spark and firing like heater because of
moving.
-The archives and warehouse are the points that are exposed to
danger due to presence of inflammable materials after an
intensive earthquake and probable firing.
-You should try to keep away flammable materials such as oil
and gas from the flammable objects such as paper gunny, nylon
sacks and boxes and observe safety operations against firing
in this places and also try to equip this places with fire
extinguishers.
-Whereas laboratory is the place of keeping dangerous and
flammable materials, it’s necessary to observe recommendations
that is similar in archives and warehouse, certainly put
dangerous and flammable laboratory’s materials in unbreakable
or plastic containers and put them in air-tight shelves.
All
employees should:
-All employees
should study the design of evacuation of their department and
notice to designed suitable place after an evacuation.
-When they enter the room they should know exits and the place
of fire extinguisher and first-aid kit exactly.
-When they go from one place to another place they must know
stairways and emergency stairs.
-They should put personal and necessary supplies with a pair
of shoes in a separated box, inside their table in order to
access to them easily.
-They should have all necessary phone numbers in a special
card, always in their wallet.
-Under their table should be a special place (180 square
centimeter) for danger’s time.
-The following points are important:
-The necessary educations in the field of the First-aid by the
help of the Red Cresent.
-Encouraging employees for recognizing exactly all important
parts of building, specially insecure places and emergency
ways.
-Educating employees for using fire distinguishers in
necessary time and the method of extinguishing the fire by
using them.
-Informing all employees of an organization of the place of
water, gas and electro-meter in order to cut off their current
quickly, if necessary.
-Educating employees of different units about providing
necessary supplie’s box during an earthquake, putting them in
available and distinguished places.
Safety recommendations
before an earthquake at schools
Considering
valnerability and the number and distribution of students
throughout the country, if an intensive earthquake takes place
during instructional times at schools and there won’t be
preparation for facing this phenomenon, there will be much
losses. So the education of safety recommendations against
hazards is necessary affair for country’s students.
Surrounding’ safety measures:
-You should
strength big windows and french doors by the stick in the sign
of multiplication or as much as possible with sticky selefons
for reducing the possibility of their throwing after breakage.
-Sometimes aside from falling of debris, people are buried in
some parts of building because of destruction of door’s lock.
So you should control the lock of all exits and remove their
deficiency or change them at necessary time.
-You must extinct the probable danger of falling and shooting
of many things with their displacing and fastening in their
own place. You should fasten the junction of heavy and hanging
objects such as (hanging lamp, framed pictures, blackboard,
refrigerator, water heater to wall), Also people shouldn’t sit
under or near these objects. -Heavy, breakable and fallable
objects should put on the place near to earth.
-Get away from flammable materials that are near heater and
water heater and other gas or oil instruments.
-The objects inside classes and corridors should put so as
don’t close moving way and also their displacing don’t close
exits during an earthquake.
-Exits and usual and emergency stairs should be empty of
obstacles.
-The key and main switches of electrical wiring and gas, water
plumbing, should be controlled by experts and parents for
extincting probable cutting off the water and appearing firing
after an earthquake.
-Poisonous or flammable chemical materials should be
transferred into air-tight shelves. It is advisable to change
french containers that are special for keeping these materials
with plastic and unbreakable containers.
-Prevent falling of books during an earthquake by putting
protector rod or fence in front of bookcase shelves.
The
students should:
-The students
should know their own school’s maps and specify in it, places
and exits and the place of putting water and gas at main
switches and electro-meter.
-They must be aware of the place of First-aid kit and
fire-extinguisher and alarm bells, to use them in necessary
time.
-They should know the procedure of fire extinguishing and
doing rescue and relief operations and First –aids as much as
possible.
-Extinct the possibility of occurring incidents because of
earthquake in the class. For example consider the distance
between your seat and desk with windows and french doors.
-The students must learn to cut off electric current and close
gas and water at main switches.
(Source: IIEES
website)