The writer warns that earthquakes do not kill people, and buildings kill people

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Victoria (News 1130) – Gregor Craigie has been fascinated by earthquakes and seismic activity for decades, but it was personal tragedy that inspired him to write his first book, Borrowed Time: The Next Great Earthquake in North America.

“My sister was among the people who convinced me to write this book,” he explains. “We, as children in our family of four, had a car accident that was fatal. My father was seriously injured. Then he fell into a coma for three weeks and died three weeks after the car accident.”

Years later, his sister lived in Mexico City around the time of a major earthquake.

“I told her, ‘You know, I can’t imagine what that’s like. ‘ And she said, ‘Oh no, you can imagine.’ She said people who haven’t been through an earthquake generally can’t, but she said it was in many ways, it’s just like a car accident. I mean, it came out of nowhere, and there was no warning and changed our lives forever.”

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Craigie is a longtime journalist whose resume includes assignments with CBS Radio, the BBC, and (these days) CBC. But one of his first jobs was here at NEWS 1130.

“I was only there for a year,” he admits. “It was August 97 because he was right before Princess Di crashed. So, it’s been 24 years now.”

“[NEWS 1130] It was a good school in life, every half hour reporting. Probably the best training I’ve ever had in writing.”

Craigie says years of journalism in Vancouver and Victoria sparked his interest in earthquakes.

“Like a lot of journalists in Vancouver and Victoria, I’ve talked a lot about earthquakes, and I’ve interviewed a lot of people about earthquakes. But at some point, I became obsessed, to be honest, and also a little anxious,” he says. “I had young children and we were having a decision about where to send them to school as we looked at some old brick schools here in Victoria where they might go which I knew weren’t seismically modified.”

On Borrowed Time is the culmination of decades of interviews and research and about four and a half years of actual writing. What sets it apart is that Craigie isn’t just talking to seismologists and oceanographers, but actual survivors.

Today on #1130bookshelf: First-time writer (and former employee of @NEWS1130) GregorCraigie talks about his new book “On Borrowed Time: North America’s Next Big Quake” from @goose_lane Editions. #readlocalBC pic.twitter.com/wpvcSKdZ53

– John Ackerman (@jackerman) October 3, 2021

Everyone I spoke to who had experienced something like this, they all said, ‘You didn’t see it coming and there was no terror like it in the world. You are completely helpless. And they all said to me, “Unless you’ve experienced it yourself, you can’t really imagine it.”

Craigie illustrates the danger he poses not only here on the West Coast, but throughout the continent.

“Eastern North America is, safely, not in danger, in general, as we are, but when you look at places like New York City, it’s not far behind.”

Craigie’s numbers indicate that most people don’t think twice about earthquakes and many of us go no further than setting aside a few supplies in the basement.

“I think we need to convince more of us who live in places like Victoria and Vancouver that we need to do more [just] earthquake kit.

Craigie certainly did. He spoke to me when he was about to do some seismic upgrades in his house. He says the best place to start is to learn about the places where you spend the most time, whether it’s your home, office, or school.

“There is a good chance that the really big thing will not happen in our lifetime, but there is still a good chance that it will happen, at least us or our children are alive. So, we need to start planning now.”

Craigie admits that it can take a severe seismic event to take the threat seriously, what experts call a crisis response mindset.

“I hope we realize that, as psychologist Robert Gifford told me in the book, ‘You can’t prevent an earthquake.’ [but] You can prevent the earthquake from killing you.”

And while Craigie doesn’t aim to scare people, he does hope to motivate the reader to act.

“That’s what I heard from friends and family who were reading the book,” he says. “A number of them were frightened by some of the vivid descriptions I got from earthquake survivors about buildings collapsing etc. But the truth is we probably should be a little scared, so I hope no one panics, but I hope people will read this and open their eyes wide open.”

On Borrowed Time: The Next Big Earthquake in North America is available from Goose Lane Editions.

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