It's the middle of the night and you're sound asleep. Suddenly the house is shaking, books are falling off the shelves, a crack forms in the ceiling. Would you know what to do?
The 樱桃视频Emergency Program (SEP) hopes to saves lives by preparing people for possible natural disasters with a seminar at the Sea to Sky Hotel ballroom Wednesday (March 9). Preparation is the key to reducing lost lives in emergencies, said program co-ordinator Jim Lang, who points to the devastation of Southeast Asia's tsunami as an example of the danger of ignorance.
"It gives you the magnitude of what happens if we don't educate people," said Lang. "The question that troubled me right from the beginning is that that earthquake wasn't secret. Everybody along the shoreline felt the earthquake and nobody moved, nobody did anything. So it's the ignorance."
Among SEP's strategies to protect residents from disasters is educating them on the possibility of such an occurrence. Two geological experts will give a presentation on the likelihood of natural phenomena occurring in the corridor. SFU professor Dr. John Clague and research scientist Dr. Bob Turner are co-authors of Vancouver, City on the Edge, which is the first book in Canada to teach geology by tackling local issues.
"We talk about the importance of making land use decisions in an earthquake prone area, such as Vancouver," said Clague. "And we also raise questions about heavily populating flood prone areas."
Emergency preparedness involves both awareness and planning, so once the speakers have delivered their presentation, the 樱桃视频Emergency Program will inform the audience of what individuals can do for themselves and for their community. One example Lang uses is the area's dyke system.
"I think 70 per cent of our infrastructure is protected by the dyke, knowing this, we can come to terms with the idea that we live behind this dyke system and understand that we as a group of citizens have to fund the maintenance of it. We have all these hazards and to get people to understand the reality, it's a grind."
Emergency workers will outline other strategies such as storing emergency kits in the home, office and vehicle, and informational pamphlets will be made available. An open house will be held at the Sea to Sky Hotel ballroom at 6:30 p.m. followed by a presentation at 7 p.m.
