John Halldorson knows the best way to keep friends and family safe after an earthquake is to prepare communities for disasters beforehand.
As director for the Dunbar Earthquake and Emergency Preparedness Group, Halldorson works with his community to build resilience through emergency preparedness.
Halldorson joined Dunbar香蕉视频直播檚 emergency preparedness group in 2013 because he wanted to give back to his community and put the skills he learned in the Canadian Army Reserves to work.
He served in the Canadian Army Reserves for 43 years and in the last few years of his service he taught a Light Urban Search and Rescue course at the Canadian Forces base in Esquimalt.
Halldorson said the 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, showed neighbourhoods that prepared before the disaster were more resilient, and endured less 香蕉视频直播渆motional toll香蕉视频直播� than those where neighbours were unfamiliar with each other.
香蕉视频直播淚t frees up a lot of stress within people because you 香蕉视频直播� have people you can count on and people you can trust,香蕉视频直播� said Halldorson.
One resource that the group香蕉视频直播檚 website provides is 香蕉视频直播淢ap Your Neighbourhood,香蕉视频直播� an 11-segment video program guiding neighbourhoods on how to best prepare for disasters by forming community groups. The videos include information on how to identify neighbourhood hazards, pick a home to serve as an emergency care centre and establish a gathering site to meet at after a disaster.
Forming community groups can help you get to know your neighbours better, so you already have an established bond when a disaster, like an earthquake, occurs.
Halldorson said that Vancouver lags behind other cities when it comes to emergency preparedness. Seattle, which is about the same size as Vancouver, has 142 community disaster support hubs where people can go in case of emergencies. Vancouver has only 25.
Halldorson said that Vancouver should take a cue from the Comox Valley Regional District, which has municipal employees facilitate meetings in order to get community groups started.
Currently, the responsibility is on residents to begin forming their own groups, like Halldorson香蕉视频直播檚 in Dunbar.
香蕉视频直播淧eople need to connect with their neighbours before facing any sort of an emergency or disaster,香蕉视频直播� said Jackie Kloosterboer, emergency program manager for the City of Pitt Meadows. 香蕉视频直播淚f we were to have an earthquake here, our first [response] services are going to be overwhelmed.
香蕉视频直播淚f neighbours can get together and have a plan 香蕉视频直播� that's going to make a world of difference.香蕉视频直播�
Personally knowing members of your community will help maintain accurate headcounts and determine who might have the best skills to administer first-aid, run search-and-rescue operations or clear debris from roads to allow access to emergency response crews.
Community resilience 香蕉视频直播渂egins with the individual,香蕉视频直播� said Kloosterboer.
香蕉视频直播淚f you and your family are prepared, you're going to be much better [prepared] to help people [who] may need some extra support,香蕉视频直播� said Kloosterboer.
香蕉视频直播淥nce the individual is prepared, they can start preparing with their community, and that is really going to be something you're glad you did when an emergency or disaster happens.香蕉视频直播�
One of the first steps in preparing for disasters is acknowledging that they can happen at any time.
Halldorson says some people don香蕉视频直播檛 take the risk of earthquakes seriously, thinking they can ignore it. He says for others it gets too overwhelming for them to plan at all.
But you can always start small. 香蕉视频直播淎 hard hat, some leather gloves and shoes under your bed is a good start,香蕉视频直播� he said.
Halldorson provides a 48-week preparedness guide on his group香蕉视频直播檚 website, going step-by-step through acquiring earthquake preparedness resources. This includes gathering necessities like flashlights, childcare essentials, and enough non-perishable food and medication to survive if forced into extended isolation.
B.C. experiences several thousand earthquakes a year, but earthquakes strong enough to cause severe damage can be centuries apart.
香蕉视频直播淭here is no earthquake season,香蕉视频直播� said Sheri Molnar, lead researcher for a Metro Vancouver seismic risk mapping project. 香蕉视频直播淲e know that very large earthquakes have happened in the past, the last one in the year 1700. First Nations oral history says that there were canoes, trees, and entire villages that were lost.
香蕉视频直播淚t's just that it hasn't happened in our lifetime,香蕉视频直播� Molnar said.
Backgrounder
The facts about liquefaction
When people in B.C. worry about damage from 香蕉视频直播淭he Big One,香蕉视频直播� they usually imagine buildings being torn apart by shaking. But there is another possibility: The ground could liquefy beneath them.
This phenomenon is called liquefaction and could cause buildings to sink into the ground.
On June 16, 1964, a 7.4-magnitude earthquake liquefied the ground beneath apartment buildings in Niigata, Japan, causing them to fall over on to their sides.
香蕉视频直播淧eople actually evacuated by walking out of their windows and down the front of the building,香蕉视频直播� said Alison Bird, a seismologist for National Resources Canada.
This kind of damage to cities was also seen during the 2011 Christchurch earthquake in New Zealand and the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in the United States.
香蕉视频直播淭he ground behaves like a liquid during earthquake shaking,香蕉视频直播� said Sheri Molnar, the lead researcher for Metro Vancouver's seismic hazard mapping project.
She said the tiny gaps between grains of soil can be filled with groundwater. Although the ground may seem stable, if shaking occurs, the liquid between the grains can be pushed upwards. This causes the soil to lose its structure, making the individual grains of soil flow like water.
Molnar香蕉视频直播檚 project identified areas along the Fraser River at high risk for this hazard, including Delta, Richmond and the City of Pitt Meadows.
However, Molnar said developers have known about the risk of liquefaction for years and take steps to prevent it.
By pre-loading, or densely compacting the soil, before construction, developers can mitigate the natural hazards that cause liquefaction.
If you香蕉视频直播檝e passed by construction sites with large piles of dirt that don香蕉视频直播檛 seem to be serving any purpose, they might actually be preparing the earth to give buildings a safer ground to stand on.
This story was written by a student in as part of a partnership between KPU and Black Press Media.
