Communities on the west coast of Vancouver Island will have the chance to learn more about local tsunami preparation this week.
This year’s Tsunami preparedness week is from April 14 to 20, and the Strathcona Regional District is inviting people living in Ehatis, Oclucje, Tahsis, and Zeballos to participate in Hike to High Ground Public Evacuation Exercises. These hikes raise awareness of B.C.’s tsunami risk and give people along the coast the opportunity to practice reaching a tsunami-safe location.
The events will feature simulated emergency notifications. The SRD says in a release that they “cannot predict earthquakes. Once the Canadian Earthquake Early Warning system launches this Spring, it will provide seconds to tens-of-seconds of warning by detecting an earthquake immediately after it occurs.
“If you ever receive an alert – whether on your phone, TV or radio — please take immediate protective actions, like ‘Drop, Cover and Hold On’.”
The first event will be a Hike to High Ground event in Tahsis from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, April 17. At 11:00 a.m., Tahsis community members will receive an Alertable notification indicating an incoming earthquake will cause severe ground shaking in 60 seconds. This will be the cue to ‘Drop, Cover, and Hold On’ as if the ground was shaking and then people are to evacuate to the Discovery Crescent Tsunami Muster Site.
All participants at the Muster Site will be treated to hot dogs and entered to win a household emergency kit.
Later on Wednesday, an event simulating a distant tsunami will take place in Ehatis and Zeballos. At 7:15 p.m. the tsunami warning sirens will sound and the Zeballos Volunteer Fire Department (ZVFD) will be door-knocking to alert residents in Ehatis and Zeballos about a (pretend) incoming distant tsunami from Alaska. A coloured piece of flagging tape will indicate that the home has been visited during the exercise.
The ZVFD will remove the ribbon at the end of the exercise. The purpose of this exercise is to test notification procedures and assess how many households the ZVFD can visit, community members are not to evacuate during this exercise. If individual households are not visited, it’s because specific notification areas have been selected for this exercise, and not all areas will be notified.
On Thursday, April 18, another Hike to High Ground event will take place in Ehatis, Oclucje and Zeballos.
At 2:00 pm community members of Ehatis, Oclucje and Zeballos will receive an Alertable notification indicating an incoming earthquake will cause severe ground shaking in 60 seconds. This is the cue to ‘Drop, Cover, and Hold On’ as if the ground was shaking and then people are to evacuate to the Ehatis Tsunami Muster Site with the seacan (up the forest service road away from the community).
All participants at the muster site will be treated to burgers and hot dogs and entered to win a household emergency kit.
RELATED: SRD to support human, nature-based solutions to climate change