The two large earthquakes that rattled Venezuela on Wednesday were among several that struck the Ring of Fire, which B.C. sits on.
Additionally, there were large tremors felt in Japan, Philippines, New Guinea, and California, which one expert says serves as a warning for officials and residents in this province.
Dr. John Cassidy is a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, and he tells 1130 NewsRadio all of these falling on the same day is a coincidence.
“We see earthquakes around the Ring of Fire each and every day; it’s the most active region of the world,” he said.
“So, all of these places where we saw earthquakes yesterday, there are earthquakes there all the time.”
He adds aftershocks, like the one in Venezuela, are also expected when the initial shaker is so big, but that doesn’t mean the effects will be felt around other parts of the world.
“It’s rare. It’s usually in very specific regions, volcanic areas, but it’s not expected to see links over thousands of kilometres between earthquakes.”
Cassidy points out there are around 2,000 earthquakes experienced along the coast of B.C. every year, but they are typically so small, they’re not felt.
“We have seen very large earthquakes; they don’t occur very often, but they have struck in the past and they will again in the future,” he said.
“So, learning from these international events for us is really important. Learning about the ground shaking and the impacts, and also these events remind us that we live in an earthquake zone here in British Columbia.”
“Every day, we’re closer to a large earthquake; that’s the reality that we live in a region where tectonic plates are moving at about the same speed your fingernails grow.”
He adds that if you haven’t already done so, this is the right time to gather and prepare emergency supplies.
Cassidy says, unfortunately, they can’t forecast when the next big one will hit B.C.
Related articles:
“In terms of felt shaking, the events typically are half a dozen a year here in British Columbia. Damaging earthquakes happen about once every decade, and the really strong earthquakes are typically centuries apart on our coast… and all of them related to the Ring of Fire,” he said.
“Every day, we’re closer to a large earthquake; that’s the reality that we live in a region where tectonic plates are moving at about the same speed your fingernails grow. The tectonics are still active in our region. We will have future earthquakes. We don’t know when that will occur, that’s the challenge.”
To get a better idea of when that may happen, he says experts in the field try to learn from past shakers in this province while watching what’s happening in other parts of the world, for example, in Venezuela.
“In terms of how often, where do we expect earthquakes, and what type of ground shaking do we expect? And [we are] learning from international events where we have many, many more instruments on the ground now that record the shaking and will tell us what controlled shaking happened in Venezuela. Was it the thick basin? The sediments? The soft soils? What played a role there? So, we can apply that new information here in British Columbia, so we’re learning a lot as time goes on.”
Cassidy points out in B.C., the Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system is operating, which gives people information and a heads up, so they have critical seconds to take action.
“For those communities that are close enough to experience damaging shaking, there will be an earthquake alert that comes to your cellphone, radio, and television in the same way Amber Alerts are issued, so that alert will be automatically sent out,” he said.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but it’s enough time to take elevators to the nearest floor and let people out before strong shaking arrives. Open doors at fire halls, for surgeons to put down their scalpels before the strong shaking arrives.”
The quakes in Venezuela were magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 and killed more than 160 people, while nearly 1,000 have been injured. There are also reports of thousands of others missing across the country as crews sift through intense damage searching for more casualties.