A new earthquake warning system will prepare Canada for dangerous shaking
May 25, 2022
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Large earthquakes can wreak enormous violence upon lives, livelihoods, infrastructure and the environment. High-density urban populations in the relatively small, seismically active areas of British Columbia and the Québec City-Montréal-Ottawa corridor leaves residents extremely vulnerable to earthquakes.
A notes that 카지노 게임 컬렉션śa major earthquake would have a significant economic impact regionally, and cause a domino effect on the economy of Canada, with major impacts on critical infrastructure, such as roads, electricity, communication and agriculture, public assets, residences and much more.카지노 게임 컬렉션ť
It concluded that a 9.0-magnitude earthquake in British Columbia would rack up almost $75 billion in costs, and a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in the Québec City-Montréal-Ottawa corridor would cost almost $61 billion.
Canada does not have an earthquake early warning system to provide alerts to the 10 million people who live in these areas 카지노 게임 컬렉션” or a national education initiative to develop an earthquake-aware culture. But that will soon change.
10 million at risk
Canada카지노 게임 컬렉션™s most active seismic zones fall into three main areas:
- , along the St. Lawrence River in southeastern Québec.
- , stretching from the north end of Vancouver Island to Cape Mendocino, Calif., and connected to the , from Haida Gwaii northward along the Alaska coast.
- , due to post-glacial rebound, where the ground slowly rises as glaciers melt.
Seismologists forecast significant shaking for Québec (Montréal, Québec City, Rivière-du-Loup), Ontario () and British Columbia ( and ) in the future. But .
For example, the recurrence interval for a large earthquake in the Pacific Northwest is about 500 years 카지노 게임 컬렉션” there have been seven in the past 3,500 years. Seismologists say there카지노 게임 컬렉션™s a 30 per cent chance of a 카지노 게임 컬렉션” a very powerful quake that occurs at a subduction zone 카지노 게임 컬렉션” in this fault zone in the next 50 years. But earthquakes are quasi-random 카지노 게임 컬렉션” they don카지노 게임 컬렉션™t occur at regular time intervals.
In my work with communities in , and that have experienced lethal earthquakes, I카지노 게임 컬렉션™ve learned about . Their stories taught me that time lost is lives lost, and that those who took protective action survived.
. With only seconds of advance warning, people can take protective action such as drop, cover and hold on. .
Earthquake-prone communities often experience fatalities, anxiety and fear, and widespread damage to homes, infrastructure and economies. A community with an earthquake-aware culture has grasped lessons from seismology, social science and economics, painfully aware of what damages and losses .
. Their interpretations help us understand how local fault lines will shake during an earthquake, how often the shaking has occurred in a location and .

2024: All systems go
In March, Natural Resources Canada set up an earthquake-monitoring station , the first station in what will become a national early earthquake warning system by 2024.
The system uses . It aims to reduce the number of injuries, the cost of damage and losses, and the impact to critical infrastructure operations.
Millions of people 카지노 게임 컬렉션” and the Canadian economy 카지노 게임 컬렉션” could benefit from the early earthquake alert system. Once it is fully operational, it should provide five to nine seconds advance warning to those in Haida Gwaii, Queen Charlotte and Masset, B.C., for ruptures in the Queen Charlotte Fault, and 43 to 91 seconds for the mainland towns of Bella Bella, Prince Rupert and Kitimat, B.C. In QuĂ©bec, a repeat of the would offer 84 seconds advance warning for MontrĂ©al and 29 seconds for QuĂ©bec City.
How people will respond to the alerts remains unknown. But Natural Resources Canada has funded the to work with the U.S. Geological Survey and the to learn from their experience of building an earthquake-aware culture, as well as with other nations, including Japan, China, Turkey, Greece and Italy.
Challenges and next steps
By 2024, the Canadian earthquake early-warning system will have more than 400 land-based sensors deployed throughout Ontario, Québec and British Columbia. It will send the alerts to radio, television, internet and cellular networks, allowing people to take action quickly.
The advance notice is meant to avert deaths. A mere 10 to 90 seconds warning could save lives, protect infrastructure and utilities. Researchers, however, still need a better understanding of how Canadians will respond to these alerts.
For example, Canada카지노 게임 컬렉션™s earthquake hazard maps suggest there are two widely separated seismically active areas: one in Ontario, QuĂ©bec and New Brunswick, and the other in British Columbia. But each location will suffer different types of damage and losses after a large earthquake.
These maps give the erroneous impression that the earthquake risk applies to everyone equally. shows distinct geological, political, economic and emergency management contexts between Eastern Canada and Western Canada.
For example, those in Eastern Canada are very vulnerable to seismic hazards: The soft soils in the Charlevoix-Kamouraska seismic zone amplify ground motion and the heritage housing cannot withstand shaking. There카지노 게임 컬렉션™s also low participation in earthquake preparedness exercises.
According to a , 65 per cent of home owners in Vancouver and Victoria have purchased residential property earthquake insurance. In contrast, in the Charlevoix카지노 게임 컬렉션“Kamouraska seismic zone, only two per cent of home owners in QuĂ©bec City and five per cent in metropolitan MontrĂ©al have residential property earthquake insurance.
The ultimate goal of the earthquake early warning system is to ensure that those most at risk 카지노 게임 컬렉션” the disabled, elderly, very young, caregivers and those living in remote rural areas 카지노 게임 컬렉션” have .
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, Adjunct Professor, Geological Sciences and Engineering,
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