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ShakeOut BC is critical emergency drill

Only seven per cent of British Columbians are ‘emergency ready’
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Red Bluff Lhtako Elementary School student Sophia Lilenweiss scrambled under her desk along with the other students in her class during the Great British Columbia ShakeOut drill on Oct. 19. KAREN POWELL PHOTO

Red Bluff Lhtako Elementary School principal Wendy Forsythe says the Great British Columbia ShakeOut drill at her school on Oct. 19 was good.

“It’s a pretty quick drill. It doesn’t take very long.”

She says the school has participated in the ShakeOut for the past four years.

“There’s a real push in the province that all kids and all adults practise in the event of an earthquake. We remind teachers and remind the children that they could be visiting some place that has earthquakes, or they could move there eventually and they would need to know those skills.

Forsythe adds schools are required to practise the ShakeOut more than once a year.

“We also practise a lock-down drills and, of course, the fire drills.”

She notes they do the fire drills when it’s warmer outside because everyone has to go outside.

The lock-down drills are done during the quieter times of the year, Forsythe explains.

Local school children were among the thousands of British Columbians are participating in the ShakeOut drill that day.

In a 2017 survey conducted by Ipsos Reid and St. John Ambulance, 34 per cent of British Columbians rated their household’s overall level of emergency readiness as “excellent/good,” when actually only seven per cent of British Columbians are technically “emergency ready.”

Read more: Odds of an earthquake in B.C., one in three

The survey findings revealed that only seven per cent of British Columbians created an emergency plan, purchased an emergency supply kit and trained in First Aid and CPR.

“After receiving the survey results, we realized how few people are truly ‘Emergency Ready’ in this province and we needed to do more to make is easy for people,” says Sandy Gerber, St. John Ambulance BC & Yukon marketing director.

“We created the www.SETforEMERGENCY.com website, which provides four easy steps to become “Emergency Ready,” complete with a free Emergency Ready Plan & Checklist. This tool makes it so easy for people to finally get SET for Emergencies at work, home and play.”

While most people recognize the importance of emergency preparedness, not everyone has taken the steps necessary to get themselves, their family, and neighbourhoods emergency ready, Gerber says.

The survey also found the residents stated their most concerning British Columbia emergencies were about their households being impacted by earthquake (64 per cent) and household fire (64 per cent), followed by an extended power outage (57 per cent) and severe wind storm (54 per cent).