Dear editor,
I live in the Union Bay district and my wife and I responded to the Pacific tsunami emergency at 1:30 in the morning last month. The emergency was passed down to me through a phone call from a friend in Vancouver. Information that I received was limited at the time and we didn’t know how long we had to get to safety.
We exercised an evacuation plan to higher ground in uplands Royston.
I woke up a couple of friends in the area and advised them what limited information I knew. By contacting friends and neighbours and informing them of the situation at least gives them the opportunity to make their own decisions on how to handle the event even if it’s a dud.
In regards to the events news, there wasn’t any. We tried the internet. We tried all the FM and AM stations, tried the big news outlets via our cell apps and finally called and talked to the RCMP who shared with me what they knew at the time.
Still not getting a lot of current news, I downloaded Twitter and was able to gather some current information on the tsunami and the locations that were affected. The time was now 4 a.m. and the expected time to hit the Tofino area was around 4:30. The emergency was then called off and we returned home tired and relieved, but with a lot of questions: Where is this Emergency Information System and communication located? How do I get to it?
How does it get to me?
I know that no alarms went off in our Zone E. If we were affected would we get a audible alarm?
I believe if I had access to the news via this Emergency Information System at least of all I could decide on an action plan to get to safety. We are probably not the only ones in the Valley that lack this information.
Some thoughts came up. We should consider having a Provincial B.C. AM 911 station that is dedicated to broadcast current 24/7Emergency events in B.C.
Now’s a good time to review your Districts Emergency Preparedness plan. The Union Bay Improvement District has a good link to the document for review.
Dwayne Axani
Union Bay