A giant earthquake drill last month got me thinking about how emergency preparedness has changed - hopefully, for the better.
The Jan. 26 drill was timed to coincide with an earthquake 311 years ago that had an estimated at magnitude 9.0. Organizers from the provincial Emergency Management Office were hoping for 450,000 participants - many of them in schools. A similar drill was set to take place in Oregon, as well.
Learning how to prepare for an earthquake is a good thing, particularly in places like B.C.'s Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, where it is a matter of when - not if - The Big One hits.
Lower Mainland residents had a small taste of an earthquake in February 2001 when a shaker centred near Olympia, Wash. was widely felt here. There was minimal damage in the Lower Mainland but some parts of the Seattle area suffered significant damage.
But the largest natural disaster experienced in this area in the past 50 years was not an earthquake. Hurricane Frieda (sometimes spelled Freda, and known south of the border as the Columbus Day Storm) hit this area with a ferocity on Oct. 12, 1962 and the widespread damage it caused was in many ways similar to that of an earthquake. Many roads were blocked because of downed trees and windows were broken. Crews scrambled for days to clear roads and restore power and phone service.
There was some property damage, although it was much worse south of the border, where the storm hit with even more ferocity. Some places in Oregon reported sustained wind speeds of 130 mph (209 km/h). At Vancouver International Airport, the highest recorded wind speed was 78 mph (125 km/h).
In those days, there was little in the way of a formal emergency preparedness system. Emergencies were dealt with as they came along by fire and police departments. An organization known as civil defence, made up mostly of volunteers, did provide some help in the Frieda aftermath but it was mainly set up to deal with the threat of nuclear warfare.
Something I was unaware of until recently is that CKNW was the only radio station north of the California-Oregon border that managed to remain on the air. It did so because an engineer named Jack Gordon had prepared an emergency broadcast backup kit that allowed the station to keep broadcasting as long as it had access to a telephone line. NW became the go-to place for information and co-ordination.
We have frequently been told that, in emergencies, we should monitor radio and TV stations for up-to-date and accurate information. What would have happened in 1962 if Gordon hadn't thought ahead about the possibility of his station being knocked off the air?
Emergency preparedness for all of us has come a long way since that time. New buildings and infrastructure are designed with earthquakes in mind. Every city has an emergency preparedness co-ordinator. There are frequent exercises to test systems that have been set up. There are plans for emergency communication to let people know what to do.
And yet, almost every residence and business is more dependent on computers than ever. What will happen if there is a widespread power outage and a disabling of wireless transmitters? Would there be enough means to communicate?
While people are cautioned to have an emergency supply of food, water and other supplies for 72 hours in their homes, would that be enough to tide them over until major repairs are made?
As the experience in 1962 shows, dealing with an emergency is a necessity every now and then.
Frank Bucholtz is the editor of The Langley Times, a Black Press sister paper of The Tri-City News.
