Are the people even ready

Are the people even ready either? It would be total chaos if a big one happened here.

I guess it could happen any time but they keep saying we are over due but overdue in terms of the earth could be now or in 3000 years from now...

The people aren't paid to be ready

Earthquake Readiness

Here in the Alberni Valley; we have one road in and out. We are sitting ducks in case of any emergency like a forest fire, quake, tsunami....and all levels of government...from city councils to provincial Campbell and Boys to federal and Harper...are woefully inadequate. We cannot look to any of these self serving folks for solutions of any kind!

Get started now

There are some information resources available:
http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/knw/ris/index-eng.aspx

I would expect that most people would have to rely on local resources - themselves, neighbours, friends and family.
One of the first systems to fail would likely be communications: electrical power,telephone,cellphone and computer links.
Might as well assume you are "on your own" with what you have in your pockets at the time.
Watching the aftermath of the Haiti event shortly after reporting began I asked myself: "What would I do?"
Unfortunately no clear plan presented itself - who knows how one might fare - each of us could well be one of the casualties needing aid.
It is still worthwhile to at least inform yourself and think about these issues. Matches, Batteries, candles, flashlight, radio and water first.
Food and first aid
later

Its not going to happen to me......

That is why I bought a condo on the 16th floor......

The 'not going to happen' attitude is necessary otherwise who would invest in an earthquake zone?

As long as your not injured, you should be able to hang on for a few days without your internet of video games!

Living in denial

Another excellent story by Andrew MacLeod. This item just confirms what I've come to believe about the Provincial Emergency Program. The PEP is a joke. It's a cover story so that after the big one hits, the government can say "We did the best we could". The senior level of government have downloaded responsibility to the municipalities and the municipalities don't have the resources. So we get the same old crap. Store extra food and water. How that will help if that extra food and water is buried (along with you) under your home is never addressed.

Emergency coordinators used to advise you have enough food and water to last 72 hours - they've recently upped that to a week. In Haiti, people are dying for no other reason than it took help too long to arrive. We can expect the same here.

Storing extra food and water is fine but everyone knows that very few people do it. And there are things that need to be done that require resources. Hardened infrastructure. More research into earthquake-resistant building design. House inspectors that are qualified to advise on earthquake risks. Building codes that reflect the reality of where we live.

Governments don't want to spend the money to be prepared. Individuals often can't afford the thousands or tens of thousands it would take to secure their homes - and that's assuming there was some consensus over how to secure the homes in the first place. Renters have no good way to assess the safety of the places they rent - and very little choice to go elsewhere.

Literally, a disaster waiting to happen.

Spending Priorities

So this is another facet of BC government spending that has seen budget cuts in the face of the Olympics?

Good timely reporting on this issue, Kudos to Andrew.

Don't Worry BC

BC shouldn't worry too much, Alberta would be over quickly to help the province and their relatives out.

If Haiti was part of the Dominican Republic, aid would have arrived more quickly because they would still have a functioning government. If the disaster occurs in BC, or Manitoba, the federal government and adjoining provincial governments would provide assistance.

The best thing BC could do is proper building codes, slope stability analysis, tsunami warning (provided by the USGS) and keeping people out of the flood plains.

Maybe a "grab and go" bag

No, emergency supplies won't do you any good if you or they are badly crushed. If you do get through the event in a large piece some of the following list could come in very handy:
http://gohsep.la.gov/factsheets/disasterkit.htm

Disaster waiting to happen

When (not if) the big one hits, I wonder how many schools will be left standing. The seismic upgrades are moving at a glacial pace. And even for those that have been upgraded, can you really make a 100 year old brick structure survive a major earthquake?

If legislature is in session, we may have no elected provincial governance. The legislature building is likely to collapse. A lot of people might make jokes about that but I think it's a serious issue. There would be a constitutional crisis. Perhaps the Federal Government would step in until an election could be held?

Pray your kids aren't in school...

Most British Columbians still don't get that their lovely old neighbourhood schools will be the most deadly places to get caught in an earthquake.

Despite the Premier's pre-election promise in 2005 to seismically upgrade all BC's schools in 15 years, the province has to date failed to fix more than 2-3% of the 800-odd schools rated as likely to collapse. To simulate progress, they also shifted attention from fixing the most serious (and costly to fix) to the least risky schools.

Then the clowns at Vancouver's heritage commission got into the act and are now trying to block seismic upgrades that were finally approved by the district, the province and all school stakeholders, in order to preserve "heritage" buildings that are nothing more than 100-year old stacks of unreinforced masonry blocks waiting to topple.

It's not just government, though - we could all take simple and affordable steps to make our own homes safer and to prepare ourselves to cope unaided in the aftermath, if we could just get over the dellusion that natural disasters only happen to far-away third world countries. Katrina should have put that myth to rest once and for all.

..and no, don't expect help from Alberta

...if key bridges into the lower mainland or routes over the Rockeies are damaged, we're truly on our own. Remember that our airport is build on mud that is expected to liquify along with many communities built in the delta areas.

South of the Fraser, you could probably count on help arriving overland from Washington State, but I wouldn't count on much more. Canadian Forces would have to mobilize all the way from Edmonton now as well, so don't hold your breath.

And if you're just worried about losing Internet and cell phone coverage, you've obviously never tried to live a day in a densely populated community with no running water or sanitation.

Outside help

Edmonton & Calgary are 12 hours from Vancouver by road, assuming it's the summer. In the winter, who knows. As you point out, the highways will likely be impassable anyway. Lose a couple of overpasses on the TransCanada and nobody's going anywhere. I'd forgotten about Vancouver's airport being built on silt - nice planning. Anyone south of the Deas tunnel - good luck. Anyone in the Deas tunnel is out of luck.

I wouldn't count on help from Washington STate. They may have their own earthquake emergency.

Victoria may still have a functioning airport but could be otherwise isolated. Ferry infrastructure is vulnerable as is CFB Esquimault.

Urban search and rescue

Given where we live, BC should be among the world leaders in developing search and rescue expertise. Yet, the Vancouver "elite" search and rescue squad was recently downsized. Further, Canada has not sent any SAR teams into Haiti. Reportedly, part of the reason that Vancouver's team didn't go was that they needed to train for the Olympics.

http://www.examiner.com/x-34336-Vancouver-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2010m1d14-Vancouver-Elite-Urban-Search-and-Rescue-Unit-not-going-to-Haiti

Reality Sucks for Urban BC

"....the government can say "We did the best we could"

The reality is that populated municipalities demand and get the major funding for emergency preparedness infrastructure, leaving the rest of BC void of any. So, when the walls and buildings and bridges come-a-tumbling down, killing all responders, WHO is left to come and help? The units in the interior towns and cities that have NOTHING.
The Lower Mainland and Victoria are citizens should maybe remember that, the next time they demand "action". Try not to be so myopic.

Still?

Back in 1987, when I was in my first year of post-secondary studies, I took a 100-level political science course called Canadian Social Legislation. Each student had to select one Provincial Act to write a term paper on. I chose the Emergency Preparedness Act. My approach was to determine whether players involved in emergency readiness and response were well enough coordinated to deal with a massive geophysical disaster, like an earthquake or tsunami, in an effective manner.

I conducted telephone and in-person interviews with the relevant personnel in various levels of the BC bureaucracy, first responder agencies, hospitals, social service agencies and charitable organizations.

What I discovered was almost no coordination among those involved. In fact, my nosing around for answers appeared to have inspire them to start working on the problem because in the weeks following my interviews, stories began appearing in our local dailies about the effort to bring greater cohesion to the system.

23 years later, and with an Olympic Games on our doorstep, it appears not much has changed.

plans with flaws

most municipalities and cities have designated emergency routes, the problem is that once the quake happens it will be every man for himself.
Nobody are going to worry about"silly laws" if they spot a route out of the disaster area.
I doubt that a few cops will be able to herd the panicky crowd.
This is indeed every man for himself country, just watch how they vote, they do not give a shit about anyone but themselves.

What major funding??

In Greater Victoria, emergency planning is split amongst the 13 fiefdoms. The search and rescue teams are made up of volunteers.

How many people in Kamloops or Fort St. John are going to volunteer for SAR, knowing that the earthquake is going to be nowhere near their homes? And how are they going to get the search and rescue teams in after the earthquake?

Gov't should start now.

I was impressed with the province and local officials in their management of wild fires in 2009. They were fast and most importantly they knew in advance where the risk was highest. Communication was much improved over the 2004 devastating fire season.
The right lessons were learned in '04 when we were forced to react. Last summer the government was prepared and lives and property were saved.
The cost of developing an emergency strategy ahead of the disaster we know will hit, is much less than reacting after the fact.
Government showed us they can get the job done; why waste time in preparing to deal with an earthquake?

More "Reality"

"How many people in Kamloops or Fort St. John are going to volunteer for SAR, knowing that the earthquake is going to be nowhere near their homes? And how are they going to get the search and rescue teams in after the earthquake?"

Self-centred urban myopics very well illustrated. ALL SAR units in the province are "volunteers". These rural SAR groups volunteer to help OTHERS, not themselves! How are they going to get in? Rural volunteers already have 4X4s, almost ALL of them. They also have boats and ATVs. By the way, the vast majority of helicopters are sitting in the interior, also. It is the coast that will be most affected, NOT the interior.
You see, interior SAR units are actually committed to what they do, on hot summer days and in -30 blizzards.

We can't compare what

We can't compare what happened in Haiti damage-wise with what would happen here. Certainly not if an earthquake of equal magnitude occurred. My first reaction was "Wow- they must have had some seriously BAD infrastructure to begin with", because it was a 7.0 and brought the country to its knees.

I was living in Taiwan in 1999 when a 7.6 hit, the second largest in the history of an island plagued by earthquakes. It threw me out of bed and across the room. Though I wasn't living in the epicentre the days following were very stressful due to aftershocks (we also slept outside in parks for a few nights) but the situation following was far different from that in Haiti. Some people even went to work the next day!

I don't think every school, hospital and grocery store would crumble here, leaving us desperate and fighting each other and days away from starvation. There would be no reason to leave Vancouver, our infrastructure is solid and help would arrive from other parts of Canada in hours.

Even in Taiwan, at 7.6, the buildings that fell were proven afterward to have been shoddily-built and could have withstood the quake if they had been up to code.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/921_earthquake