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Mobile earthquake simulator offers taste of the real thing

There’s a loud crack and a boy, eyes wide, watches his reflection splinter in the bathroom mirror. Your chair begins to rumble. In mere seconds, the ground itself is bucking back and forth.
Quake Cottage earthquake simulator - photo
Quake Cottage earthquake simulator

There’s a loud crack and a boy, eyes wide, watches his reflection splinter in the bathroom mirror.

Your chair begins to rumble. In mere seconds, the ground itself is bucking back and forth. Rugs with a rubber undergrip slip and slide across the floor and a computer monitor teeters on the counter in front of you, beside beakers filled with sloshing liquid.

Outside, a woman in a cab screams when someone is thrown against her window, leaving a bloody smear.

These are the sights, sounds and physical experiences of the Quake Cottage, a mobile magnitude-8 earthquake simulator travelling around Victoria this week.

The goal is to move users from intention to action when it comes to preparing for the major earthquake most know is looming. Scientists say there is a one in three chance that a major earthquake will shake Greater Victoria sometime in the next 50 years.

“What we know is that people who have experienced emergencies are more likely to prepare for them,” said Gerry Delorme, director of Health Emergency Management B.C., at Royal Jubilee Hospital Monday.

It’s a common myth that it’s futile to prepare for a major earthquake, because it will destroy everything anyway, Delorme said.

“I call it ‘apocalyptic apathy,’ ” he said. “We know from large earthquakes all over the world that the better prepared people are, the better chance they have to survive and recover from those emergencies.”

That’s especially important for people like hospital workers, he said. If they are prepared and know their families are safe at home with adequate supplies, they’ll be more likely to head straight to work to tend to the injured.

The Quake Cottage will be at the University of Victoria library on Wednesday, Esquimalt Town Square on Thursday, Mayfair mall on Saturday and Sooke Fire Station on Sunday.

Earthquake seismologist Alison Bird said the risk can be overplayed. “We’re not anticipating widespread collapse that you see in developing countries,” she said of Greater Victoria’s prospects. “In North American architecture, the main damage is non-structural.”

In other words, things like falling ceiling tiles, light fixtures and chimneys will be the most common risks.

It’s still important to prepare — she recommends having an emergency kit that would sustain your family for seven to 14 days. Residents can make small changes, such as removing heavy objects from high shelves, or larger changes, such as ensuring their homes are bolted to their foundations and knocking down unnecessary chimneys.

Despite the terrifying imagery, there were plenty of shrieks and laughs in the Quake Cottage at Royal Jubilee on Monday — without the real threat of injury or destruction, it feels awfully similar to a roller-coaster.

Saanich resident Lisa McCormick said she hoped it would inspire her to action. “You think about it every time we have a tremor and then you get busy with other things and don’t really think about it again,” she said.

Pharmacy technician Monique Nicholson said the cost of earthquake kits has stopped her from buying one. But after exiting the Quake Cottage, she said: “That’s strong. I’m actually speechless.”

“The first thing I thought of is that I would be ducking with things falling, in real life. I can see now why they say you should get underneath something.”

Niels Baartman, co-owner of Total Prepare, said earthquake kit sales in Victoria almost doubled after the magnitude-4.7 earthquake centred near Sidney Island on Dec. 29.

“We definitely see a spike in sales when there are earthquakes people can feel,” Baartman said. “When it’s something like a major earthquake somewhere else in the world, we definitely have an increase in business, too, but it’s marginal.”

He compared selling earthquake kits to selling life insurance. “It’s something people put off and then, before you know it, something comes up and you’re not prepared.”

The Capital Regional District has a guide online called Prepare Yourself, with information about emergency preparedness for earthquakes, tsunamis and other disasters.

asmart@timescolonist.com