Are you prepared for an earthquake?
On Thursday (Oct. 19), at 10:19 a.m., the annual ShakeOut event will take place across the province as a reminder to B.C. residents on what to do during an earthquake.
PreparedBC says that if you receive an alert or feel the ground shake, to immediately drop cover and hold. When the shaking stops, count to 60 before getting up to give displaced objects a chance to settle.
Emergency Management Minister Bowinn Ma said in a news release that B.C. experiences about 3,000 earthquakes each year, but most of those aren’t felt. Across Canada, there are about 4,000 earthquakes each year.
“With the ever-present threat of an earthquake anywhere in the province, it is critical that people know what to do when one hits.”
There have been four magnitude 7.0 or greater earthquakes in the past 130 years in southwestern B.C. and north Washington State.
Earlier this year, the province put its earthquake-response strategy and overall emergency preparedness to the test, with a large-scale earthquake response exercise. During the three-day training, hundreds of emergency management personnel responded to a simulated catastrophic 6.8-magnitude earthquake in the Lower Mainland.
B.C. is also a partner with the federal government’s Canada’s Earthquake Early Warning system. Sensors will be installed along the coast and throughout the province, and by spring 2024 the federal government will be able to issue alerts to mobile devices, radios and televisions to warn of a potentially harmful earthquake.
READ MORE: No tsunami expected for B.C. after 6.7 earthquake off Alaska