Earthquake Drill, North Vancouver, BC - Civic Centre Plaza on October 15...

Stan G. Webb - In Retirement
Published on Dec 14, 2015
At 10:15 AM on October 15, 2015 we had the B.C. ShakeOut Drill [http://www.shakeoutbc.ca/index.html].

I sat on the small waterfall at the West end of the North Vancouver City - Civic Centre Plaza and photographed and videographed the event.

There was absolutely no sound, indication or instruction for anyone on the North Vancouver, BC - Civic Centre Plaza; during the one hour from 10AM to 11AM. Obviously the City of North Vancouver is not yet participating in the early warning systems slowly coming online: such as PNSN - Pacific Northwest Seismic Network and the ones being developed at UBC (http://news.ubc.ca/2014/09/10/on-aler...). No sirens; and no signal giving an all clear. There was some activity inside the city hall. At 11AM I inquired inside the City of North Vancouver Library and they said that they had taken part in the drill at exactly 10:15AM: DROP, COVER, and HOLD ON. In following years library staff told me that they had been instructed NOT to participate. Then, just after 11AM I inquired at The 80s Restaurant, located on the NE corner of the Plaza, and later at Lonsdale Dental - those folks, and all others I talked to (members of the public, at large) knew absolutely nothing of the drill; thus the did not participate? Passing grade for Civic Plaza? Leadership? NOT. Emergency Planning? NOT. At that time I had been researching and writing about a Cascadia Megaquake - Cascadia Tsunami and Megatsunami (also known as Iminami) - (http://cascadiamegaquake.blogspot.ca/). We are so UNPREPARED; and that makes me more than a little sad.

Big titles. Big salaries. Big pensions. Uninspired leadership. With leadership effectiveness at ZERO, many more will die. Just my opinion. Four years on, if we don't get it right, even before this time, there will be HELL TO PAY.