Emergency planners are advising British Columbians to be prepared for major earthquakes in the province, including practising what they would do if the natural disaster struck.
That’s the reasoning behind running a one-minute ShakeOut drill each year on Thursday, Oct. 17 at 10:17 a.m. local time. The exercise is organized in workplaces, schools and people’s homes worldwide.
It aims to get residents prepared for big earthquakes, especially in earthquake-prone zones like the West Coast of North America. In B.C., the drill comes a little under two weeks after a series of earthquakes were felt in Metro Vancouver and northern B.C.
John Cassidy, an earthquake seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, said early preparedness is key in the province, which includes having an emergency kit and being aware of potential hazards like hanging lights or paintings.
“It’s a fine line. You don’t want to scare people … but you do want to remind people that very large earthquakes have happened here in the past and will again in the future,” he told CBC News.
“Tectonic plates are still moving, as they have for millions of years.”
In late August, the federal government announced that an early earthquake detection system had been activated in B.C., which would give the public a few seconds of advance notice when a harmful tremor is detected.
Alerts will be transmitted automatically to British Columbians via cellphones, radio and televisions seconds to tens-of-seconds before strong shaking begins, giving people a bit of time to “drop, cover and hold on.”
Cassidy said the system is deployed when strong earthquakes could be felt in an area — and the system already saw some use in the middle of September to alert residents about a magnitude 6.4 earthquake south of Haida Gwaii.
Because most earthquakes occur at some distance, Cassidy said, an alert could give officials enough time to take measures such as halting drivers from entering a tunnel or using a bridge, or stopping planes from landing.
Cassidy added that the system has worked very well in Japan, where trains and cars have been stopped due to earthquake warnings.
A spokesperson for the B.C. Ministry of Transportation said officials practise earthquake scenarios on a regular basis, and also regularly retrofit bridges and highways to ensure they are seismically sound.
We’ve all been told to prepare for “The Big One” — a massive earthquake that is forecast to bring destruction to the Lower Mainland. While the damage will be severe, not every part of the region will be hit the same way. Darius Mahdavi went out with some researchers who are creating detailed mapping that outlines the risk at a more granular level.
Advance preparation key: emergency planner
Gillian Wong, an emergency management specialist with the Vancouver Emergency Management Agency, said communities that are more connected to each other and prepared for emergencies will recover faster.
“We often think about emergency preparedness being about … having the right supplies and even a plan, which can feel to some people very daunting,” she said.
“But part of being emergency prepared is also getting connected with your neighbours and building a community.”
A new study of the Cascadia subduction zone from California to Vancouver Island reveals the smoother, flatter fault line off the B.C. coast that will one day cause a violent, extremely damaging earthquake and massive tsunami.
As part of emergency planning, Wong recommended that people have two emergency contacts — one inside the province, and one outside.
“What we’ve seen is that when things get chaotic in a disaster, that our communication systems get overloaded,” she said. “And so we encourage people to have that out-of-province contact.”
In addition to being aware of the potential hazards in their homes, Wong recommended people fill an emergency kit with essential documents, prescriptions, water and non-perishable food.
Are we ready for “The Big One”?
CBC Vancouver’s podcast series Fault Lines explores the potentially devastating effects of a massive magnitude earthquake predicted to hit the West Coast of North America. Hosted by CBC senior meteorologist and seismology expert Johanna Wagstaffe, you can listen to Fault Lines now at Apple Podcasts and CBC Listen.