All I have to say–Right on the nose! Quit passing the buck and admit you dropped the ball. And yup, it sure could have been worse.

Passing the buck is a key strategy in building a successful career in modern politics. Not everyone can do it.
metalman.

metalman, well said!

There is something disposable about people and governments that don’t admit when they messed up. It makes me think THEY didn’t get the point, never mind anyone else.

“Dispicable” not ‘disposable’, but hey… My autocorrect may have a point!

Yup, Ben is bang on. I used to respect Shirly Bond, even if I would never have voted for her. Now, she’s just another mealy-mouthed politician incapable of taking responsibility. Her comment, “For the most part, I’m pleased with the response” is utter nonsense. In cases like this, the appropriate response, indeed the only response that makes a difference is to warn people of the possible danger.

I saw Port Alberni the day after the tsunami struck when the Alaska quake hit and believe me, it was a freaking miracle no one was killed. My nephew is a logger in Winter Harbour on the north-west tip of the island and he would have been in grave danger if this had been a subduction quake that would have generated a wave. All of Ms. Bond’s “response” after the fact would have been a bandaid on saber thrust.

This is inexcusable incompetence!

“”This is inexcusable incompetence!””

You couldn’t have said that better !! Inexcusable indeed.

I beleive that part of the problem is that we have MLA’s in responsible positions who are not qualified for the jobs.

Shirley has been moved around to 2 or 3 different cabinet posts, because of the resignations of other cabinet ministers, and others have been given cabinet posts because there was no one else to take them.

This doesnt let anyone off the hook, however it is certainly a part of the problem. In addition I suspect that the Civil Service has been basically doing whatever it wishes because for all intents and purposes there is no oversite from the Legislature.

The past couple of years have been all about the HST, Gordon Campbell. The resignations of many MLA’s (Good riddance) and Christy Clark and her obsession of getting elected.

Very little time has been spent on the basics of Government. We are spending millions (billions?) on stupid projects that are designed to garner votes rather than serve a useful purpose.

In other words the Government has lost its way. It really is spinning its wheels, and feeling the pressure from private enterprise to do whatever it takes to keep the NDP at bay. The result of this is that we have no one minding the store.

Band aid solutions to problems, passing more laws than necessary, and creating more problems than we are solving, are all indicators that we have a serious problem.

The HST should have disapeared at least a year ago. The election should have been called right after because the referendum was in fact a message from the people that they had lost the confidence of the Government. The polls today show that the people of this Province still have no confidence in the Government.

The lack of a tsunami warning, huge back logs in court cases, and the Vancouver riots are symptoms of the Government not being in control of issues, and not doing the resposible thing. Seems getting elected is **Job 1**

Whats next???

These are the days of “Not us, go look somewhere else”. No one is taking responsibility for anything. It’s all pass the buck and deny everything. Doesn’t matter whether you’re talking federal government,city council or the provincial government, although in the blatant example of the Christy Clark government its all about lying your butt off to avoid culpability at any expense. Lie, cheat, steal to get what you want and then lie again that you didn’t do it. It is absolutely disgusting.
Shirley Bond just parrots the party line and should be put out to pasture.
The people are expendable and in the case of council, it appears the philosophy is we’ll do what we damn well please and, no, we don’t have time to listen to you if we don’t feel like it, or if we don’t feel like answering the tough questions.
The people are meant to pay taxes and that’s it, don’t you know.

The thing is, folks, you know an earthquake hits your area at the moment it actually hits or shortly afterwards if you are farther away than the epicentre. There is no warning.

If the earthquake is the type which is likely to generate a tsunami, then warnings are appropriate. The information which is available for those who do some research is that the location of the epicentre was such that the experts themselves were not too sure whether to warn or not. There are different levels of warnings as well based on the probability of a major tsunami event or simply a small rise in the water level, such as 5 feet instead of 50 feet.

Basically the information that should be there and provided to people living along the coast should be that the moment you feel a quake, move to “higher” ground. In Tofino, for instance, that is easy to do since the whole town in about 20 metres + above sea level. The only low areas are those along the beaches and adjacent highways. There are signs which give that direction dotting beach accesses plus highways. Just as with avalanche zones, there are signs which let you know when you are entering a tsunami zone and exiting it.

In addition, Tofino has sirens and the mayor activated those sirens to err on the side of safety.

As President Obama said on TV during the Hurricane Sandy event – listen to your local emergency response organizations, they have the details. Obama as well as state governors are in a position to be briefed. That is all they can do. To think otherwise is being a bit unrealistic as far as I am concerned. The system is in charge. And if the system does not work, THAT is the time for the presidents/prime ministers and governors/premiers and mayors to start to do their work of making sure that people find the gaps and any assistance is provided to fix the gaps for the future.

Who on here has told us how the system is supposed to work. Not a single person. The fact that the first tsunami warnings came from a US based service is no surprise since they have the facilities. What facilities does Canada, and I mean Canada not BC or Alberta or Nova Scotia have to monitor first hand for earthquakes and tsunamis and send out warnings as well as on the ground reports?

Look at the Hurricane situation. The weather services provide the projections. The media passes those along, primarily the all news tv stations …. And they also monitor those events on site …. They send reporters out to the key locations and send images out to those who want to know what dangers they or their family might find themselves in as well as to the gawkers sitting at home with a beer.

So, we need to know,
•for several emergency situations in a community – earthquake, tsunami, volcano, floods, wildfires, dangerous goods highway and rail incidents, industrial plant explosions, etc. – what to do.
•We need to have a working warning/info system which works when normal communication systems are working as well as when they are down.
•We need to have signs on shelters so that we know where they are.
•We need to know who is in charge so that we can call them to learn and prepare ourselves
•We need info on our local government web site so that we can learn and prepare ourselves.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3630/3388647462_c813f5c063.jpg

That is a typical sign on the Pacific Rim Highway outside of Tofino ans at beach accesses.

Simple instruction. No government warning required.

It is interesting to read the note about tsunamis on the PEP site.

http://www.pep.bc.ca/hazard_preparedness/Tsunami_Preparedness_Information.html

Please read these words from the site carefully:

Tsunamis originating some distance away across the Pacific Ocean may not be preceded by a “felt earthquake.” When a warning from a distant tsunami is issued, local emergency officials usually have time to notify citizens close to beaches and low lying areas. Communities in high-risk areas will act on their emergency plans to respond to tsunami warnings. People will be advised by local emergency officials to follow evacuation routes to higher ground.

IT IS AGREED BY SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL EXPERTS, THAT AREAS AROUND VICTORIA AND VANCOUVER ARE GENERALLY NOT SERIOUSLY THREATENED IN THESE TYPES OF SITUATIONS.

IN A LESS LIKELY SITUATION, A STRONG NEAR-SHORE EARTHQUAKE MAY ALSO GENERATE A TSUNAMI. Therefore, IF YOU LIVE IN A HIGH-RISK AREA AND FEEL STRONG GROUND SHAKING, IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU MOVE INLAND OR TO HIGH GROUND IMMEDIATELY AND RETURN ONLY AFTER LOCAL EMERGENCY OFFICIALS SAY TO DO SO. EMERGENCY OFFICIALS MAY NOT HAVE TIME TO ISSUE A WARNING.

In high-risk municipalities and regional districts, tsunami notifications are undertaken locally by various means: loud hailer, siren, phone fan-outs, etc. (THIS WAS DONE IN THE CASE OF TOFINO. THE MAYOR KNEW WHAT TO DO!!! EXCELLENT!!) People are advised to follow the directions of local emergency officials and stay tuned to local radio or TV stations for information and instructions from emergency officials in the area.
——————————

So, with that in mind, which small communities were not as prepared as Tofino? Why not? Should they have been? What went wrong? How can it be fixed?

My intial reaction is that human behaviour is at play here. Until we actually go through an emergency situation, we think the whole thing is a bunch of Chciken Little at work.

This is the time to catch it while everyone is still recalling the problems and make sure any gaps are filled.

So what is PG going to be doing? We have to take care of our own and everyone else has to do the same.

Just looking through the rest of the site ….

Any local emergency measures organization and anyone living in tsunami areas really has no excuse. The information is out there.

Something about leading a horse to water and not being able to force them to drink.

Well, if it is not already in place, we may have to institute some sort of enforcement system.

Here are the words from another part of the PEP site.

If you feel an earthquake

If a large undersea earthquake occurs near the BC coast, a local tsunami may follow. The first waves may reach shore in as little as 15 minutes. This may not be enough time for an official warning to be issued.

The best warning, then, is the earthquake itself. If you live in a tsunami zone and the ground shakes severely for more than one minute, head for high ground as soon as it’s safe to move.

http://www.pep.bc.ca/tsunamis/awareness_1.htm

So, the earthquake notification was issued by the Pacific/Alaska centre around 10 minutes after the earthquake (I know, we have not really been taking note of that lag, have we?) The there was a waffling of how likely it is to cause a singificant tsunami.

Being that close, it really cuts the 15 minutes time down considerably. THAT is why one moves to higher ground when one lives on the coast in a tsunami prone area and feels an earthquake. One errs on the side of safety. The quake may actually be inland. No time to toss a coin. Take evasive action. Easy, eh.

https://www.placespeak.com/topic/322/tofino-tsunami-siren-test

That site was created to monitor the reach of Tsunami siren tests.

When does PG test its warning systems? What are the warning systems in PG?

The Government and the PEP weren’t the only one’s who dropped the ball. Shaw Media, GlobalTV, CKPG and most of the local radio stations and TV stations also dropped the ball on local notification. Seriously did anyone see the micro script print scrolling on the bottom of the GlobalTV program, it was so small and so fast and obscured by the program running in the back round that you couldn’t read it. What has happened to the Canadian version of the Emergency Broadcast System? Did the CRTC just drop it or are they no longer requiring compliance to public safety.

CKPG? What were they supposed to warn us about? Watch out…your hanging plant might bop you in the head? Sheesh, I didn’t even feel anything up on the Hart. Why the hysteria about being warned all this way away from the epicenter? I think this is being totally blown out of proportion.

Narrow sightedness is a concern, when you have people who are traveling across the province making these folks aware is important. Blown out of proportion, you would be the first to whine if you were not advised of something that could impact you directly or in this case indirectly. You’re missing the point, this was a major event that “thank God” didn’t go south in a major way. Action by those directly effected was quick and expedient they didn’t wait for Victoria to tell then to act, they moved of there own accord.

Notification to the public of any major event is important to prepare people who may be traveling, first responders who may be out of the area, medical personnel in surrounding areas. Generally folks who could actually be useful in rendering assistance if needed. It’s bad enough that notification from elected officials (generally useless most of the time and even more so during and emergency) was delayed by almost an hour, cuts the response time for those who actually are actually trained and work during these types of events.

This should be a big deal, and a very important one, we got out of this just by the shear luck and personal planning. Don’t make light of things you don’t understand. Just because one didn’t feel it on the Hart doesn’t mean that is isn’t important that other people be advised of the situation in a timely manner.

How condescending of you. “Don’t make light of things you don’t understand”. I understand if I feel the earth shake and I live beside the ocean I better get my @ss to higher ground. I don’t need CKPG or any radio station to tell me that. My point is, living hundreds of miles from the ocean and hundreds of miles from the epicenter and complaining about not being “warned” about a possible tsunami is totally ridiculous. The people in the danger zone had all the warning anyone can expect, and that is they were getting the crap shook out of them.

But: Not everyone who lives in a tsunami zone may have felt the quake.

Just got off the phone to Shirley Bonds office. Her assistant added my name to a growing list of people who are wanting a personal phone call from Minister Bond after the next “Event”. Now I feel safe!!!

Good points made all around.

I think its obvious its by the sheer grace of God that an event this large took place without anyone, much less whole communities, facing catastrophic results.

My mom as a little girl lived through the Port Alberni tsunami. If I recall correctly its why they moved to PG right after that. That tsunami was generated by an earthquake thousands of miles away that no local felt to take as a warning.

After what happened in Port Alberni and now Japan its asinine that our government wouldn’t have a registry that would be immediately activated to warn any and all that would be concerned. How simple is that most basic function of government to do, it can’t be that hard to figure out?

That was a warning and serious people in BC should be taking it seriously and not talking about the number of tweets they got out as a substitute for substance.