This has always bothered me.
I understand that the lack of windows is safer for reasons, but if the house collapses then you’re literally trapped under a house?
It would be harder to find you??
I feel like I’m missing something,
Please explain.
In: Engineering
It’s probably best to be trapped under the house than to have been thrown around in all the debris up above. Also the area you live in keeps track of the population and if you’re missing theyll look in your basement I’m sure
If the house collapses during a disaster, then if you’re in the basement, you have had a house collapse on top of you. However, if you were on the floor above, then you have fallen into the basement along with the rest of the house.
At least in the basement, you can stay near structural walls to hopefully ensure you don’t get too hurt in the event of a collapse.
That entirely depends on the disaster. There aren’t really that many disasters that would put your house at a risk of collapse, apart from maybe a massive mudslide or an earthquake. With heavy storms the most severe danger comes from flying shrapnel – basement is super-safe. During a flood you’d definitely not want to hunker down in a basement.
Depends on the natural disaster:
In the case of a tornado or very strong hurricane, the stuff above ground is going to be the first to get torn away, which means you can be exposed to flying objects yourself (either from the wall that just got torn away or from other stuff that was already being blown around). The basement is underground so you don’t have that risk.
In the case of an earthquake then you really want to shelter in a stable location (such as bracing yourself in a door frame) and then exit the building to an open field or park once the quake has ended.
Sure, it would be harder to find you. However since the advice is to hide in a basement, people looking for survivors will be expecting you to be in the basement.
And of course, if you’re dead it doesn’t really matter how easy it is to find you. You could tie yourself to a tree outside during a tornado, and someone will find your dead body very quickly rather than finding you live, unharmed body after 20 minutes of digging through a house.
Latest Answers