Dozens of Saanich residents drove to the top of Mount Tolmie, and families wemt to reception centres at the Gordon Head Recreation Centre, the Oak Bay Recreation Centre and St. Mary’s Anglican church in Metchosin, as people learned early Tuesday morning of a possible tsunami.
In View Royal, Mayor David Screech said the fire department jumped into action about 3:30 a.m. by evacuating an estimated 60 homes near Portage Inlet.
“There’s some very low-lying waterfront on Kingham Place and that sort of area,” he said. “If it was wider-spread than that, there would be fire trucks and sirens on the street, speaking with megaphones.”
The evacuees were able to go to an emergency facility set up at Colwood’s Juan de Fuca Seniors Centre, Screech said. The facility was established by the joint Colwood/View Royal Emergency Social Services group.
Screech said the municipality is working on an alert system that residents can sign up for. “We don’t at this point have that.”
Tuesday’s tsunami warning is a chance to take a close look at an alert system, he said, noting that the province notifies municipalities about what is happening via text and email.
Saanich firefighters knocked on doors in Cadboro Bay, while Esquimalt firefighters issued evacuation notices to homes in the Gorge/Tillicum area and residents near the West Bay Marina and Fleming Beach. However, notices lifting the tsunami warning went out around 4:30 a.m. before most people had a chance to leave their homes.
Megan Thompson, Saanich’s emergency program co-ordinator, said the tsunami warning served as a learning experience for many people. “I think this is a great learning tool for our residents as well as emergency managers and first responders,” she said. “The importance of personal preparedness is highlighted in events like this. We want people to have grab-and-go kits, we want them to have a plan to get our of their home, an idea of where they would go.”
Mayor Carol Hamilton said there were door-to-door warnings in Colwood, in the Esquimalt Lagoon area. Municipal staff also made sure the Esquimalt Lagoon and Coburg Peninsula areas were clear of vehicles, then blocked off the road, Hamilton said.
Colwood’s emergency co-ordinator called her about the tsunami warning around 2 a.m. “It comes directly to me when they have to initiate any emergency action.”
Hamilton said the system worked well. “It was a consistent reaction, I think, from the whole coastline of communities,” she said, adding people should put the warning in perspective. “If anything, be aware. We don’t know when these events are going to take place.”
Not everyone needs to drive up to Mount Tolmie, Hamilton said. “Know your area. What is your topographical height?”
No evacuation orders were given in Victoria, but the police communication centre was flooded with four times the normal number of calls, mostly from people asking what was going on.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said it’s a reminder that 911 should only be used for emergencies.
Real-time information was being provided on the city’s Twitter feed, @CityofVictoria, and through the Vic Alerts emergency notification system, which sends text messages or phones people with updates. People can sign up for the alerts online at: victoria.ca/EN/main/residents/public-safety/emergency-preparedness/vic-alert.html.
The number of people signed up grew to about 34,160 on Tuesday; it was about 6,500 on Monday.
Sidney Mayor Steve Price said the town has established its own emergency communication system so residents can get emails and phone alerts, and the tsunami warning was “a really good test, a real-time test.”
“And through the Capital Regional District we have a strong system set up to protect everyone in the region,” said Price, who is also chair of the CRD. “I think it will be quite reassuring to people that it’s there in the middle of the night making sure they are looked after.”
Price said Sidney’s response started about 1:52 a.m. when Fire Chief Brett Mikkelsen, the town’s emergency management co-ordinator, was advised of the earthquake.
Mikkelsen was at the fire hall by 2 a.m. At 2:46 a.m., the town’s emergency mass notification system sent out messages to residents.
The public was then warned to avoid beaches and marine infrastructure, though the risk assessment at the time suggested there was no need for evacuation.
The Peninsula Emergency Measures Organization established a reception area for those living on boats.
Price said one lesson is that the town needs to ensure the message gets across to residents that churches and the community centre are where they need to gather in an emergency.
In North Saanich, Mayor Alice Finall said the director of emergency services confirmed the tsunami warning at 2:15 a.m. and by 3 a.m. had sent out an alert by email and text message to residents who had registered for the notification.
On the west coast of Vancouver Island, officials were happy with the way communities responded after being notified by Emergency Management B.C.
Gold River firefighters blocked the 10-kilometre road to the waterfront, where businesses were alerted of the danger.
Remotely triggered sirens sent Bamfield residents to two firehalls that sit 20 metres above sea level.
Tahsis sounded its emergency siren — which village chief administraive officer Mark Tatchell said needs to be louder — and sent volunteer firefighters door to door. Residents on high ground opened their homes to their neighbours.
Tofino Mayor Josie Osborne said the false alarm is a good chance for people to debrief about how they handled the tsunami warning. “My message to Tofino residents is to take time to sit down with your family and friends and walk through what you did. How prepared did I feel? What did I have, what didn’t I have and what can I do for next time? Knowing that others have your back and that people are looking after you perpetuates the calm reaction that we need people to have.”
Chris Alemany, who lives in Port Alberni, said he was sleeping soundly with earplugs when his 10-year-old son barged into his bedroom and woke him up. Alemany had not heard the sirens, though they are a block and a half from his home. When he took out his earplugs, the noise was “really, really loud,” and it quickly became clear they needed to evacuate, he said.
“I’ve never seen so much traffic on our roads,” he said. “At 3:30 in the morning, it was like there were 4,000 extra people in town or something because everybody was headed up the street.”
The time between the siren sounding and the all-clear was tense, and his son and daughter were scared. “But in the main, I think people kind of knew what they needed to do and just waited for information,” he said.
— With The Canadian Press
