Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins experienced both sides of the tsunami alert that woke many Vancouver Island residents in the wee hours of this morning.
As a leader, and as an evacuee.
As the head of the municipality she was concerned that the Township鈥檚 emergency response systems worked the way they were supposed to. But as a resident of a float home in West Bay, which could be very vulnerable in the event of a tsunami, she joined her husband and their neighbours in packing a bag and moving to higher ground, in this case the Esquimalt Recreation Centre.
鈥淚 felt it went quite smoothly,鈥� she said. 鈥淓veryone seemed calm, they seemed prepared. As we went around, staff had given me the sense we had about an hour to be out. We were waking people from dead sleep telling them 鈥榶ou need to get out,鈥� liveaboards as well. But there was no panic, it was an orderly evacuation.鈥�
Esquimalt鈥檚 emergency preparedness people were at the centre ready to receive people, many of whom were alerted by members of the Esquimalt Fire Department who were patrolling coastline neighbourhoods. Despite their efforts, some people didn鈥檛 seem to get the alert.
According to Desjardins, many residents of Esquimalt count on the Department of National Defence sirens at CFB Esquimalt, but they didn鈥檛 go off.
鈥淪o that鈥檚 something that for our community we have to understand and follow up because there seems to be a couple of community expectations that that is a signal for us,鈥� she said.
Capt. Jenn Jackson, base public affairs officer with CFB Esquimalt, said they didn鈥檛 sound the alarm because the tsunami threat wasn鈥檛 imminent and they didn鈥檛 want to cause a panic.
鈥淚n consultation with Emergency Management B.C. and other sources such as CUS Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it was determined that the threat to Victoria was not imminent and that continued monitoring of the effects further north would give us ample time to sound the alarms if needed,鈥� she said, adding if the threat was imminent to Victoria, then the sirens would have been sounded.
They did, however, sound the alarm in Port Alberni about one hour after word first came out about the earthquake
鈥淲e鈥檙e actually discussing the amount of time between our first notifications of a possible tsunami and the first trigger of the warning sirens,鈥� Port Alberni Mayor Mike Ruttan said after the all clear had been issued. 鈥淭here was almost an hour. We didn鈥檛 have actual confirmation that a wave was going to hit here with some force.鈥�
Not wanting to panic residents unnecessarily, they waited, he said. When it did sound, it was with mixed results. Resident Steve Myers it wasn鈥檛 loud enough for some residents to be woken up.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 hear it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 woke up to about 50 texts on my phone at about 6 a.m. this morning.鈥�
Despite their ineffectiveness in his case, Myers said he鈥檚 surprised he didn鈥檛 hear them and he thinks they are an important community asset, not just for Alberni, but for Greater Victoria and other coastal cities as well.
鈥淐onsidering they鈥檙e right on the coast and the tip of the Island, it鈥檚 probably pretty important,鈥� Myers said.
Monika Blats, another Port Alberni resident, agrees.
鈥淪irens are probably the most important part (in an emergency) because you need to be alerted and know what鈥檚 going on,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have a siren how do you know to get out?鈥�
City of Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps praised the response of local emergency officials, but nonetheless urged residents to sign up for the city鈥檚 alert system VicAlert.
鈥楾he most important takeaway is that everybody should sign up for Vic-Alert,鈥� he said.
Helps found about the alert at 2:30 a.m. and spent her morning at the emergency operations centre that the municipality had set up at Victoria鈥檚 Fire Hall #1 from where senior staff monitored the situation and issued alerts via social media, email, and even landlines.
鈥淚 felt very safe,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e had a run-through for this [near the start of the current term]. Everything went exactly as planned. Our staff was calm. I was calm.鈥�
While City of Victoria staff did not evacuate any individuals, staff were prepared to handle evacuees, if necessary, Helps said.
Victoria does not have a siren system, and Helps warned against rushed calls for such a system. 鈥淵ou need to be very careful to place [such a system] in urban areas,鈥� she said, adding that they can cause confusion.
So did Victoria dodge a bullet here? 鈥淚 guess you can say it that way,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad our residents are safe.鈥�
