Quake-proof desks provide shelter, provisionsBy AMY PHAN, Scripps Howard News Service
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/62335 BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. Bob von Bereghy said he was working in a San Diego law firm in the early 1990s when California experienced several earthquakes. Working from an office in a multistory brick building, von Bereghy remembers each quake clearly and how vulnerable he felt. "I was in an awful building," he said. "I realized we got lucky in those circumstances. ... I had no way of getting out of that building if it started to collapse," said von Bereghy, 43, who moved to Bainbridge Island, Wash., in 1997. But
fear proved to be the mother of invention, and a career path. In 2009, von Bereghy founded LifeGuard Structures, a company that specializes in
"earthquake-proof" desks that can withstand more than a million pounds of debris.
"They are specifically designed to fall floor by floor, if a building collapses," von Bereghy said. "They have brute strength." . . . .
"Hopefully in the future, we will see earthquake-proof desks as the norm and not the exception."
Von Bereghy said LifeGuard desks can survive a high-magnitude quake.
"We fully expect that anyone that has a LifeGuard and utilizes it in an emergency will live," he said. "And we will be pulling them out of the rubble, whether it is three days later, one day later, or three weeks later."
But the protection doesn't come cheap. The
price tag for a standard desk is $4,900; the smaller student desk version costs around $1,000. Von Bereghy said the desks can have added ballistic and blast resistance.
He says he wants to start a LifeGuard network by serializing each desk and storing buyer information in the company's directory. In the event of a disaster, the information would be transferred to local emergency agencies.
The desks don't look any different than standard office fare. Outside options include several choices of wood overlays and hardware.
But inside, it's a different story.
All the desks have a steel plate floor and steel skeleton. Each desk is wrapped in either steel or armor, with an exclusive "crumple zone" designed to absorb high-impact blows from beams, floors or other objects.
"LifeGuards don't care what brings down a building they just care about keeping massive material of weight off of the inside," von Bereghy said.
The desks weigh from 100 pounds to 800 pounds, depending on the model.
Inside the desk drawers are basic emergency items -- water, food and blankets -- along with an oxygen mask and "sanitary provisions."
The desks were recently put to the test. Several of them were put inside a multistory hospital in California about to be demolished. Aside from a few scratches and some noticeable bumps from steel beams falling, the desks emerged from the rubble whole."We feel really good about this product. This is going to make a big difference to people," he said.
(Contact Amy Phan of The Kitsap Sun in Bremerton, Wash., at
www.kitsapsun.com)
