Preparation the theme on World Tsunami Awareness Day

Around the world today, nations are making note of the day put aside by the United Nations for Tsunami Awareness.

With the focus of the day designed to raise awareness of tsunami risk for many on those coastal communities near seismically active areas.

The move to make November 5th the day of Awareness was initiated by the United Nations in December of 2015 with a resolution and declaration of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Towards their goals of greater awareness, the UN has compiled a range of material for review on themes of Tsunami and preparation, which you can review here.

In British Columbia, Emergency Preparedness BC has a number of resource pieces available for communities at risk and residents of the province that may be in areas that could be impacted by any tsunami event.

You can review their notes here.

The North Coast and Haida Gwaii make up the scope of Tsunami Notification Zone A and would be the first to see any impact from earthquake generated and other tsunami events to come from the North and West

The actions to take in the event of a Tsunami are fairly simple, the first step that of protecting yourself from any seismic event and then to head for higher ground and to stay there until the All Clear is given by local authorities.

For Prince Rupert, the actual risk to residents is fairly low, with a recent study into the area surrounding the city showing few areas of any concern should a Tsunami event be realized.,

May 2019 -- Study findings deliver "pretty good results" for Prince Rupert when it comes to Tsunami Risk
April 2019 -- Tsunami Preparation Week in British Columbia underway
March 2019 -- Northwest Communities to share in Emergency Preparation Funding

In 2018 the City of Prince Rupert ramped up its preparation for tsunami related issues significantly with the preparation of a Tsunami Emergency Preparedness program

You can learn more about how the City is approaching the theme from this information page from the City of Prince Rupert.

As part of the city's evolving communication plans for emergencies, the City introduced an Emergency Notification App in the Spring of 2018, you can access the program and add the app to your mobile device from this link.

British Columbia does have its own Tsunami preparation week in the Spring, which reinforces the need to be aware of what information is available and what you need to do in the event of a Tsunami.

But since the theme of the day is that of preparation, we imagine that still to come today will be a few words on World Tsunami Awareness Day from North Coast MLA Jennifer Rice, who is the Parliamentary Secretary for Emergency Preparedness.

So far however,  the BC government hasn't quite caught up to the notes from around the world, however should they have some themes to share of the day they most likely will be found on Ms. Rice's Social Media Platform.

You can get a sense of the seismic activity along the pacific coast from our archive page here.