Many lessons were learned from North Shore ‘earthquake’

By Mike Andrews:

There was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake on the North Shore a few days ago. It damaged key infrastructure, such as bridges, roads and railways. It caused structural fires, a hazardous materials spill and power outrages that disrupted cellphone coverage and created traffic jams across the region.

In response, two helicopters, an airplane and several unmanned aerial vehicles were launched to conduct damage assessments, a specialized heavy urban search-and-rescue team was mobilized and personnel and resources were moved to the North Shore by boat, barge and hovercraft to provide relief.

The good news is that the earthquake was just a simulation — part of a large-scale emergency preparedness exercise led by North Shore Emergency Management, which supports both municipal and regional response capabilities by co-ordinating effective and efficient preparedness, planning, response and recovery activities.

The eight-hour exercise included the participation of the City and District of North Vancouver, the District of West Vancouver and more than 30 industry, provincial and federal organizations.

The less comforting news is that this exercise was developed as an extension of one of the most detailed earthquake studies ever prepared for any municipality in Canada, meaning it was a highly credible and realistic scenario.

Did you know that B.C. is susceptible to many types of earthquakes and not just the “big one?”

Which means emergency preparedness is a fundamental aspect of life in B.C. and maintaining a robust response capacity is critical to the health of our population, infrastructure and economy.

The simulation last week enabled us to test and validate a number of key components in our emergency preparedness capacity, including rapid assessment of damage, new reporting technologies, air and marine resources, as well as inter-agency co-ordination.

For example, the exercise was conducted in real time. Field teams were instructed to report to specific locations around the region and handed envelopes containing an incident narrative and ‘doctored’ photos of damage. They then reported back to the North Shore Emergency Operations Centre, where staff devised operational priorities on the spot.

The exercise also tested new reporting technologies. During the simulation, field teams submitted damage assessment reports through a newly developed smartphone application in real time. In the past, it could take 12 to 24 hours to process these types of updates. This marked the first time the North Shore had the primary situational awareness feed coming in through a mapping (geospatial) platform.

The simulated earthquake damaged infrastructure and caused extreme congestion on bridges, meaning the North Shore was geographically isolated and segmented during the exercise. As a result, marine resources, in particular, were integral to the response effort.

Since every jurisdiction in the Lower Mainland can be accessed by water, Port Metro Vancouver and other marine agencies played a key role during the simulation, and would be instrumental in any real emergency response scenario.

For instance, as a key co-ordinating agency, the port authority would help mobilize and facilitate the movement of vessels. It would oversee a “marine highway” crucial to moving people, goods, materials, vehicles and other resources around the region during an emergency.

The port would also be vital to receiving international aid shipments and essential to our region’s recovery. With so many local businesses reliant upon the port for their supply chain operations, its ability to retain, or swiftly regain, operational integrity would be fundamental to the continuity of our economy, post-disaster.

Lastly, a key objective of the simulation was to build familiarity between participating stakeholders. With so many agencies involved in an emergency response situation, this exercise validated both individual organization and integrated approaches, highlighted areas for improvements, and ensured broad alignment.

Overall, British Columbians should take comfort in knowing the simulation was a success and generated key learnings that can be actioned right away. Not only did it demonstrate that we have the planning and resources to respond to real earthquakes of this magnitude, but the concepts used during this exercise can be applied across a variety of emergency situations.

However, residents should not be complacent. It is our collective responsibility to be prepared, and residents must also take steps to ready themselves for worst case scenarios. After all, as this exercise showed, we have dedicated and talented first responders, but any successful emergency response effort in B.C. will be the result of all our joint efforts.

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