You just don’t know when a big earthquake is going to happen, but thousands of B.C. residents rehearsed what could be a life-saving manoeuvre Thursday.
More than 690,000 people took part in the Great B.C. ShakeOut, a provincewide earthquake drill, up from 100,000 from 2012. The result has heartened emergency organizers who say that how people act during and after a big earthquake is crucial to their survival.
“You may only have seconds to protect yourself in an earthquake — this is why it is critical to practise the life-saving response of ‘drop, cover and hold on,’ ” said Miranda Myles, co-chairperson of the Great B.C. ShakeOut organizing committee.
Students at Camosun College’s Interurban campus poured out onto a nearby access road while University of Victoria students sought refuge under desks.
Staff and others at the provincial legislature knew the drill was about to begin when they heard the sounds of an earthquake through the public address system.
“Then we rang the fire alarm and everybody evacuated,” said Sergeant-at-Arms Gary Lenz.
The drill went well, he said. The fire wardens made sure all 400 or so people were accounted for. A container was on site which, in an emergency, would serve as an operations centre with satellite links.
The drill interrupted a workshop underway in the legislative chamber.
“The clerk was giving his lecture and there went the rumbling and the bells, and the employees had to duck under the members’ desks,” Lenz said. “We wanted to do it without warning people too much.”
Justice Minister Suzanne Anton, who took part in the drill in North Vancouver, said residents should not be complacent about the risk of an earthquake.
She urged B.C. residents to practise the “drop, cover and hold on” drill and prepare an emergency kit to help them survive 72 hours after an earthquake.
More than 1,000 earthquakes occur in B.C. each year. In the past 70 years, the offshore region west of Vancouver Island has had more than 100 earthquakes of magnitude five or greater.
