Whew, wasn’t the big one! Not here, not yet
The end of October saw Vancouver flanked by 2 natural disasters, the 7.7 earthquake to our north in Haida Gwai and Sandy to the East.
Thankfully the earthquake, although big, didn’t cause major damage or injury. Not so lucky for the East coast, which looks to have been hit by $45 billion plus in damages, more than 50 fatalities and many more injured. As an aside, this global warming-amped storm drives home the need for preparation as we are forced to adapt to a world of crazy climate; hopefully the message won’t be completely lost on the election-centred political debate.
Both events highlight the need for personal preparedness. But more than that, they point to the need to be prepared as neighbours. Disasters like these show all too clearly that emergency service providers quickly become overwhelmed and citizens are left to help themselves and each other.
Here in Vancouver, October saw a series of activities to improve preparedness. This was the month for ShakeOutBC, several exercises to test the new earthquake preparedness program for Vancouver, and as a real attention getter, a real life earthquake off the coast of Haida Gwaii.
| An magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off Haida Gwaii on October 27, 2012 |
The quake, centred 139 km south of Masset, B.C., struck just after 8 p.m. Saturday October 27. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.7-magnitude earthquake occurred at a depth of 17 km, followed by 50 aftershocks felt mostly in the Haida Gwaii area and nearby coastlines.
Earlier in the month, on October 18, more than 590,000 people participated in the Great British Columbia ShakeOut. In total more than 14.5 million people in 12 Official ShakeOut regions worldwide practiced earthquake protective actions and many other aspects of their emergency plans.
The City of Vancouver took the ShakeOut date as an opportunity to test their new earthquake response strategy by staging full-scale and tabletop management exercises between October 18 - 21 called TUMBLING DICE and MAGNITUDE 2012, involving federal/provincial/municipal and private sector groups. The major 7.8 earthquake scenario included the assumption that all bridges but one connecting Vancouver downtown were disabled, with rescue workers focused on responding to a collapsed hospital and an exciting rescue from the Burrard Bridge.
Mayor Gregor Robertson said of the exercise "Citizen preparedness is a crucial factor to saving lives and preventing injuries in the event of a major emergency or natural disaster. These exercises are an important opportunity for citizens to learn about emergency preparedness and how to best keep themselves and their families safe and secure, especially in the early hours of any disaster."
Village Vancouver Emergency Preparation continues to work actively with neighbourhood villages to advance community resilience. A group of concerned members of the newly launched North Vancouver Transition Village hosted a talk about the Map Your Neighbourhood program which looks likely to spin off several strata council and coop preparation efforts. Main Street has programmed a talk on emergency preparedness for one of their regular potluck meetups, more blocks in Dunbar are scheduling Map Your Neighbourhood meetings, and Transition Surrey is inquiring into expanding the program to their newly formed village.
This month, the Kitsilano Village is organizing a public talk about the Cascadia Fault by author Jerry Thompson, followed by a panel discussion on community earthquake preparadness. The event will be held on Wednesday November 7th at 7pm at St. James Community Square on W10th ave. and Trutch St. Admission is free although donations are always welcome! For more information please e-mail KitsEarthquakePrep@gmail.com.