Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says the province’s warning systems worked well following a magnitude 7.9 earthquake off the coast of Alaska early Tuesday morning.
Emergency Management BC (EMBC) issued a tsunami warning for Zones A, B, C and D along the B.C. coast. The Sunshine Coast and most of the Georgia Strait basin falls within Zone E, so this area was not in any danger as a result of the Alaska quake.
“Although the tsunami warning was eventually suspended, this event demonstrates that coast warning systems do work,” said Farnworth. British Columbians can get tsunami notifications and similar emergency information through several channels.
Radio and television stations in the province are part of the nation-wide AlertReady system, which allows authorities to broadcast automated emergency notifications. There are plans to add text alerts to the system in April 2018.
The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), which runs the Sunshine Coast Emergency Program, does not have a public mass notification system.
Local agencies, like the SCRD, receive an automated notification from EMBC of pending emergencies.
If areas within SCRD jurisdiction are directly at risk, EMBC makes a call to the local emergency program coordinator.
The next step would be a notification to first responders, medical and emergency operations centre staff.
For the general public, information such as precautionary measures, evacuation alerts and orders, and reception centre locations would then be shared through the SCRD website, social media and the local radio station. Firefighters and Search and Rescue volunteers would also fan-out into neighbourhoods at risk to warn people.
EMBC also recommends the public follow its Twitter feed, @EmergencyInfoBC, as well as the National Tsunami Warning Center (@NWS_NTWC), Natural Resources Canada (@CANADAquakes) and the U.S. Geographical Survey (@USGSted).
You can also sign up for tsunami email notifications via the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission: https://lists.unesco.org/wws/subscribe/tsunami-information-ioc.
For more information on emergency planning, including a complete list of the items you should have in your emergency kit, visit: www.scrd.ca/Emergency-program.
