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In the event of a massive earthquake — the kind that causes significant shaking and damage — Natural Resources Canada said the system could give coastal communities several minutes of warning.
Seismic sensors detect the first energy radiating from an earthquake, the P wave, which rarely causes damage. Sensors transmit this information to data centers, where a computer calculates the earthquake’s location and strength, and the expected ground shaking across the area. This method can provide a warning before secondary S waves arrive, which bring the powerful vibration that can cause the most damage. Photo by NATURAL RESOURCES CANADA Article content
An earthquake early warning system that sends alerts to mobile phones and emergency broadcast systems is expected to be in place in British Columbia by early next year.
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Natural Resources Canada said the system could give coastal communities several minutes of warning before the shock waves of the most damaging earthquake – a massive earthquake – hit.
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These extra minutes could save lives by moving people to safe locations and allowing automated systems to divert aircraft from landing and stopping traffic on bridges, said seismologist Alison Baird of the Canadian Division of Geological Survey in Sydney.
The earthquake early warning system is designed to detect earthquakes through a network of sensors – some planted in the ground and others installed in buildings – that will estimate shaking risks and alert communities at risk.
Bird said dozens of sensors are being installed around Vancouver Island. About 100 sensors will cover the BC coast and Lower Mainland, and the system is expected to be operational in early 2024.
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Earthquakes release energy that travels through the Earth as seismic waves. Sensors detect the first wave that radiates from an earthquake called the P wave, which rarely causes damage.
Sensors transmit the information to data centers, where a computer calculates the earthquake’s location and strength, and the expected ground shaking across the area.
This method provides a warning before the arrival of secondary waves, called S waves, which bring strong shaking that can cause serious damage and potential loss of life.
Bird said the systems have already proven effective in Japan, Mexico and the United States.
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Last March, when the Japanese city of Tohoku was hit by a 7.4-magnitude earthquake, an express train at a speed of 300 km/h was immediately stopped due to a similar sensor system on the railway line, to avoid a major derailment and loss of life, Bird said.
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Baird said earthquake early warning alerts will be sent out to the public through national warning systems similar to the Amber Alert System.
Beard suggests going to Shakeout BC and other sites to find out exactly what to do if you get an alert. Get under your desk or table. If you’re in bed, stay there and put a pillow over your head. If you’re in a wheelchair, lock your wheels.”
Government operations centers and critical infrastructure operators can use the alerts to trigger automated responses, such as closing gas valves, automatically opening fire and ambulance doors, stopping trains and closing entrances to bridges and tunnels. Hospitals can stop surgeries and elevators can be moved to the nearest floor with the doors open.
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The system will also issue alerts about potentially damaging earthquakes from Washington state.
Natural Resources Canada will use the same software developed by the USGS along the Pacific Coast and have entered into a partnership agreement.
Baird said earthquakes that generate low levels of shaking will not produce alerts. And locations very close to the epicenter may be in the “late warning zone” of the event, where alerting is not possible.
She said alerts are based on the level of shaking, not necessarily the strength of the quake.
The entire $36 million earthquake early warning system will cover the Ottawa River Valley and St. Lawrence Seaway.
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Massive-push earthquakes occur in subduction zones where one tectonic plate is pushed under another, such as on the West Coast in the Cascadia subduction zone.
From mid-Vancouver Island to northern California, the Juan de Fuca Plate is sliding below the North American Plate. The plates fail, but eventually a buildup can occur releasing stress and earthquakes of all forces.
Last year, the province recorded about 2,500 earthquakes, mostly off the west coast of the island and Haida Gwaii, many of which were not felt. The five largest were between 5 and 5.5, levels that rarely do damage.
Natural Resources Canada has identified 13 strong 9-magnitude earthquakes in the Cascadia subduction zone over the past 6,000 years, with a rate of about one every 500 to 600 years. Some were as close to each other as 200 years old and others as far as 800 years old.
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It was one of the last major major events in more than 300 years.
On January 26, 1700, a massive earthquake and tsunami hit the western coast of North America. A magnitude 9 earthquake caused a powerful jolt that could last for minutes, triggering tsunamis that battered coasts all over the Pacific Ocean, destroying coastal villages from Vancouver Island to Northern California and causing damage on the coast of Japan.
Natural Resources Canada said the quake collapsed the homes of the Cowichan people on the island and triggered several landslides. The shaking was so violent that people could not stand up and for a long time it made them sick.
On the west coast of the island, a tsunami destroyed the winter village of Pachina Bay, leaving no survivors. The events are recorded in the oral traditions of the First Nations people.
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Natural Resources Canada says a similar marine event will occur again, presenting a “high risk” to those living in southwestern British Columbia.
She said inland earthquakes pose a greater threat to major West Coast cities than those outside, because they can be much closer to urban areas and occur more frequently. An internal earthquake of magnitude 6.9 in 1995 under the Japanese city of Kobe caused 5,500 deaths and more than $200 billion in damages.
There have been four earthquakes of magnitude 7 or greater in the past 130 years in southwestern BC and northern Washington state.
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