The earthquake that ravaged Turkey and Syria this week offers both lessons and warnings for people in British Columbia as images emerge of the human devastation and costly damage, Canadian seismology experts say.
John Clague, a professor emeritus in the Earth Sciences department at Simon Fraser University, said there is much to learn from the latest quake.
Clague said that while 鈥渢he big one could come any minute,鈥� the time frame for such an event in geological terms makes it hard to imagine for most people, whether they鈥檙e in an earthquake-prone zone or not.
Major seismic events occur about every 500 years, he said, making them rare enough for most people to worry more about the day-to-day dangers of driving a car, for example.
鈥淚鈥檓 sure you could have talked to the people living in one of those cities or towns in Turkey and they would have said, 鈥榳ell, yeah, we know we live on our fault zone, but, you know, we haven鈥檛 had a giant earthquake in hundreds of years, so why should we worry about it?鈥欌��
Clague said both individuals and governments can fall into the same trap of short-term thinking since the threat of earthquakes and other natural disasters seems distant in terms of time and space.
However, Clague credited the provincial government for investing in seismic upgrades of regional transportation infrastructure and schools, for example, though he admitted to thinking such investments are 鈥渘ever enough.鈥�
鈥淚 do appreciate that governments have other demands on their agenda like the opioid crisis and homelessness and we don鈥檛 have unlimited amounts of public moneys to deal with all the problems we face,鈥� Clague said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a balancing act.鈥�
Clague said cities like Vancouver are fortunate to have modern building codes that are regularly revised and updated, while also being far away from the likely epicentre of the next major earthquake to avoid the 鈥渨orst case scenario鈥� damage seen after 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude quakes in Turkey and Syria this week.
鈥淪yria is quite a ways away from the epicentre of either of those big earthquakes, and they had buildings collapsing there,鈥� Clague said. 鈥淪o, that shouldn鈥檛 happen, you know, in a country that has proper construction practices in earthquake zones.鈥�
He added that he doesn鈥檛 like to frighten people with dire predictions, but urges people to be prepared for earthquakes even though they鈥檙e rare and Vancouver is somewhat insulated from the worst-case scenario seen in Turkey and Syria.
鈥淚 just reinforce the fact that even though Vancouver hasn鈥檛 been damaged by an earthquake, you know, Vancouver鈥檚 only 130 years old or 140 years old,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always a good idea to be prepared and being prepared doesn鈥檛 really require that much effort.鈥�
For Shariah Alam, a professor in the University of British Columbia鈥檚 School of Engineering, earthquakes reveal whatever deficiencies there may be in a region鈥檚 building and transportation infrastructure.
In Turkey and Syria, for instance, most of the damage and destruction likely stemmed from how old buildings, bridges, and roads were at the time of the quake, he said.
Canada, he said, has 鈥渓earned lessons from various events鈥� that have seen the country鈥檚 building codes mature and modernize thanks to a 鈥渃onstant effort to improve our design code.鈥�
However, older buildings and infrastructure built before the 1970s remains particularly vulnerable, Alam said, pointing to a 2013 study commissioned by the Insurance Bureau of Canada that estimated $75 billion in potential damage in B.C. in the event of a 9.0 magnitude earthquake.
Earthquakes Canada said the Cascadia megathrust earthquake with a magnitude of 9 hit the west coast of North America on Jan. 26, 1700, sending a massive tsunami across the Pacific that reached Japan.
Alam said governments of all levels have to step-up efforts to not only educate people, but also take 鈥渟trong initiatives鈥� to identify vulnerable infrastructure and prioritize repairs and retrofitting to ensure scenarios like that in Turkey and Syria don鈥檛 happen here.
鈥淚 think it requires a substantial amount of effort, energy, (and) funding,鈥� he said.
Last month, the B.C. and federal government jointly announced the province is ramping up an early earthquake detection system in 鈥渉igh seismic risk areas.鈥�
The national earthquake early warning system already has several hundred sensors overseen by Natural Resources Canada and the new initiative would see up to 50 additional sensors that would go online in 2024.
Darryl Greer, The Canadian Press
