Preparation the theme for Shakeout 2016

It's been a few years now since Prince Rupert residents have felt the rumble of the earth underneath their feet, but as we all learned from those living on Haida Gwaii in October of 2012 , the earth can move with little warning.

Preparation is the theme for today's annual Shake Out BC exercise and across the province, those participating in this years Shake Out are getting ready to drop, roll and cover at 10:20 this morning.

The Annual exercise takes place on the third Thursday of October and provides British Columbians the opportunity to become more aware of not only the immediate dangers from a seismic event, but the amount of damage and local issues that could come once the shaking has stopped.

So far 5,124 people across the Skeena-Queen Charlotte Regional District have registered for today's Shake Out, the vast majority of them, 4.350 to be exact are students in schools from K-12 on the North Coast and Haida Gwaii.

The remainder of those that have registered come from the Federal, Provincial and Local Government, the full list to this participating to this point can be found here.

If you or your group are planning to take part in today's preparation exercise you can share your participation with Shake Out BC here.

The idea behind the Great British Columbia Shake Out is pretty simple. The exercise is designed to recreate how to react should an earthquake strike, this means that wherever you are at that moment—at home, at work, at school, anywhere—you should Drop, Cover, and Hold On as if there were a major earthquake occurring at that very moment. As part of the exercise, participants should stay in this position for at least 60 seconds.

The main goal of ShakeOutBC is to get British Columbians prepared for major earthquakes, so use the ShakeOutBC drill as an opportunity to learn what to do before, during, and after an earthquake.

As well, for those of us living on the coast, awareness over the dangers of tsunamis can be incorporated into any discussion of how to prepare and what resources are available in the event of an incident.

Should there be an tsunami notice generated from any seismic event, the North Coast and Haida Gwaii are identified by Area A in the Province's Tsunami Guide.

The North Coast and Haida Gwaii are known as Area A from the
five Tsunanmi Zones listed in the provincial guide

The Province of British Columbia has prepared a guide to how to prepare and respond to any disaster incident you can find those background notes here.

A look at some of the recent earthquakes along the North Pacific fault lines can be found from our archive page here.

More items of note  on the Great British Columbia Shake Out can be found here.

CBC Vancouver has created an interesting look at the prospect of earthquakes and the preparation required before they strike, with their Faultlines Podcast project, you can find out more information about that resource here.

Some helpful videos related to Earthquakes and preparation for them can be viewed below, with some information notes from the CBC of a few years ago:




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