Nanaimo at Risk of Earthquakes By: Wyatt Stewart

Table of Contents Part One Pg. 2: What is an Earthquake? Pg. 2: What can it do? Pg. 3: Where can Earthquakes happen? Part Two Pg. 4: Where and what is Nanaimo? Pg. 5: Historic Major Earthquakes near Nanaimo Pg. 6: Nanaimo’s Protection against Earthquakes Pg. 7: Perspectives for Earthquakes in Nanaimo Pg. 8: Conclusion

Part One What is an Earthquake? What can it do? Where can Earthquakes happen?

What is an Earthquake? What can it do? An earthquake is a fierce shake of the earth, caused by the Earth’s crust moving. The earth’s crust is divided into 22 plates. These plates are atop of magma, which to they can then move slowly. What can it do? The interaction of tectonic plates can lead to one of the three ways of destruction: a convergent boundary, a divergent boundary and a transform boundary. Each of these can affect people differently. Convergent boundary Divergent boundary Transform boundary Colliding tectonic plates form rugged ranges usually along coastlines. Tectonic plates depart to form a depression. Likely to happen below the ocean, however can happen in Iceland and Africa. A tectonic plate slides besides another, destroying everything connected on the surface.

Where can Earthquakes happen? Usually, an earthquake will happen along the edge of a tectonic plate. Many of the tectonic plates on Earth correspond to continents and countries. The tectonic plate that Canada is on is the North America plate. While the North America plate is much larger than Canada, the east edge of it falls along the coast of British Columbia. This means that this part of Canada is prone to earthquakes.

Part Two Where and What is Nanaimo? Historic and Major Earthquakes near Nanaimo Nanaimo’s Protection against Earthquakes Perspectives for Earthquakes in Nanaimo Conclusion

Where and What is Nanaimo? Nanaimo is a major Canadian city on the west coast of Canada; with a population of around 88 810 people . It is found on Vancouver Island, B.C. along a mountain and beside the Georgia Strait, in the Pacific Ocean. The Nanaimo area is mountainous and rugged, considering it is in the Western Cordillera, and is the part of the west coast forest. Maple Leaf= Major Canadian City

Historic and Major Earthquakes near Nanaimo Nanaimo has had many near major earthquakes throughout history. Each black dot on this map snip indicates a major earthquake. One close earthquake, for instance, was only around 105 km and had a magnitude of 9.00. While fortunately no one died, it was only around 122.7 km that two people had passed away from an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.30, on the same island! If two people could die from an earthquake on the same island and area but in a different spot, imagine the fatalities possible to happen if there was an earthquake in Nanaimo. Nanaimo, B.C. Magnitude of 7.30: 2 Fatalities Magnitude of 9.00: 105 km away

Nanaimo’s Protection against Earthquakes As far as my researching goes, Nanaimo, B.C. has hardly any protection against life-threatening earthquakes. Being so close to moving tectonic plates, I find it ironic that one city with one of the highest earthquake potentials doesn’t take serious matters to the safety of Nanaimo citizens. However, to speak fortunately, Nanaimo does have a organized website for natural hazards that are dangerous to them. In that website they do in fact include earthquakes. Some tips for safety they tell you is to make sure nothing falls of shelves, and the “Drop, Cover, Hold” technique. If I were to encourage Nanaimo on further protection against earthquakes, I would suggest to reinforce wood frames, and remodel as much houses with shock absorbers. Shock absorbers are made of rubber that goes underneath houses. This allows the house to move with an earthquake, but not in the sense that it will collapse.

Perspectives for Earthquakes in Nanaimo The topic of earthquakes in Nanaimo has a lot of different perspectives. In theory, if an earthquake were to happen in Nanaimo, these may points may come across SOCIAL: Houses in Nanaimo could collapse and fall, taking down family memories, burying money and valuables, and can even taking people with them.     ECONOMIC: Many jobs and workplaces in Nanaimo are unprotected against major earthquakes. This could leave to unemployment and poverty. ENVIRONMENTAL: An environmental danger would be from all the trees in Nanaimo suffering the earthquake. The trees are very tall their, and could certainly fall if shaken hard enough. If a tree in Nanaimo was 50 meters tall, anything in a 50 meter radius could be affected. That includes animal homes and vegetation. POLITICAL: Considering that many places in Nanaimo would have insurance, if a mass destruction took places in Nanaimo, the government would have to pay a lot of money. However, if they thought to prevent future destruction, they could reconstruct buildings with earthquake safety support, which in the end, would too cost money. Either way, the government would lose money if a major earthquake took place near Nanaimo.   

Conclusion In conclusion, Nanaimo is no way safe from earthquakes. If I were rank the level of hazard on a scale of 1-10 for an earthquake in Nanaimo, I would give a 6. I’ve ranked an earthquake this because it is a dangerous hazard that has no prevention against stopping it and has no exact predictions or indications on when one will happen. Also, without protection, it can destroy workplaces and create unemployment, and collapse houses, making people homeless and left with nothing. Not to mention if it isn’t already dangerous enough, it can also cause the huge 50 meter trees to collapse, putting everything within 50 meters at risk. Although, in the end I also didn’t put it as high for there are ways to survive through an earthquake and keep your home safe, which are to add rubber bearings, frame supports or even the “Drop, Cover, Hold” technique.