At a press event in Kitimat today, Premier David Eby told reporters that British Columbia’s tsunami warning system worked as intended, and he’s pleased with how last night’s tsunami threat was handled.
“A precautionary approach was taken; people were advised to get off the beach, get off coastal areas, and stay away from the water. The good news is, we didn’t see any significant impact here in British Columbia. The system did work as expected, and I am very glad that the province, local governments and regional districts all worked together to ensure people were safe. It was a good trial run for us, so if we do see a major event in the future, we know we have a system that should work to deliver that warning to British Columbians as we all intend.” – Premier David Eby on BC’s tsunami response
The Premier said tsunamis are complicated events to respond to with very little ‘lead time’ for early warnings once a tsunami wave has been detected in the open ocean. He referred to last nights events as a trial run for something that could have been much worse, and reiterated that British Columbians need to take tsunami risks seriously.
“The semiologists and the people who are expert in this area try their best to predict what the impacts will be, but we could see a significant impact here in British Columbia and people need to be prepared.’ – Premier David Eby on tsunami risk to BC
Premier Eby noted it was a wake up call for the types of threats faced by British Columbians. He praised the response of municipalities and regional districts, who had each sent out alerts to their residents to keep them informed of the danger.
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