British Columbians now have a new tool to help alert them to an approaching earthquake as they get ready for the next “big one” to strike.
The province’s Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system is officially functioning, the federal government stated on Thursday.
When an earthquake of magnitude larger than five is detected, the EWW uses a network of sensors to automatically send out a notice to televisions, radios, and cellphones via the National Public Alerting System. According to Natural Resources Canada, the signal will advise individuals “seconds to tens of seconds before strong shaking starts” and a brief window of time to “Drop, Cover, and Hold On.”
The Minister of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness for British Columbia, Bowinn Ma, stated at the announcement on Thursday, “These crucial seconds might not sound like a lot right now, but they will mean life and death for many people during an extreme earthquake here in British Columbia.”
According to Natural Resources Canada, automatic safety procedures for railroads, bridges, and tunnels will also be triggered by the warnings. These include sending out alerts to aircraft telling them not to land, stopping trains to avoid derailing, and blocking traffic on bridges and tunnels.
Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, stated that “every second counts” during an earthquake.
In Canada, there are approximately 5,000 documented earthquakes annually. Luckily, the majority of these are not very dangerous because they are little. Yet, significant, destructive earthquakes can and will happen.
The system is a component of Ottawa’s $36 million initiative to create earthquake warning systems that will shield up to 10 million people from seismic hazards. The EEW system in its whole is anticipated to be operational in southern Quebec and eastern Ontario later this year, having started with investments in 2019.
According to Wilkinson, the corridor connecting Ottawa and Quebec City and western British Columbia were found to be the two regions in Canada most vulnerable to destructive earthquakes.
The EEW is an upgrade over the prior system that could only issue an alarm after an event, even if it is unable to predict earthquakes. People will have greater warning time the farther they are from the epicentre.
We are only able to feel about 50 of the thousands of earthquakes that occur in the province every year, according to ClimateReadyBC.