British Columbia suffers from one of the highest earthquake rates in Canada, if not in North America. The proximity of the boundary between the Pacific and North America tectonic plates means that there is a lot of seismic activity going on almost constantly. Most of these earthquakes go unnoticed, but every now and then a larger scale quake hits the area and the impacts of it can be felt for a long time afterwards.
Learning some basic earthquake safety tips can help, such as creating a ready to go bag full of essentials for a few days without shelter or power, or setting up rendezvous points for your loved ones and friends. However, the best way to prepare for an earthquake and the impacts of the tremors is to look at the buildings where you’ll typically find yourself in. These fall into two main categories: home and at work.
Earthquake Safety At Home
A simple look around your home will reveal a multitude of potential accidents waiting to happen in the event of an earthquake in British Columbia. When the ground shakes, it not only moves the walls of your home, but also any furniture that is not securely attached to the wall or floor. Cabinets with breakables, such as the ones found in the kitchen or bathroom, are also at risk of causing damage during an earthquake. Fortunately, at Safe T Proof, there’s plenty of options for how to reduce the impact of an earthquake around the home:
Emergency lighting – one of the most common problems that earthquakes cause is disruption to your power supply. While your probably have a flashlight stored in your earthquake safety kit, you might not be near it when the quake happens. This is where having Quake Escape LED lights fitted around the house could make all the difference. They come on automatically in earthquake situations, and also come fitted with an alarm. They twist off easily making them double up as a portable light source.
Emergency tool – in a strong earthquake, it’s likely that there will be considerable damage to your doors, walls and windows. This potentially means that you could be barricaded in your home. A set of On Duty 4 in 1 emergency tools around the home will provide you with instant options to hammer, pull or break your way through just about any barrier and get you and family to safety.
Refrigerator fastener – with the advent of taller and more top heavy refrigerators, the chances of your coolbox toppling over are greatly increased. Not only will this damage the food inside and potentially leave you without nutrition, but the sheer weight of the refrigerator will cause considerable damage to the rest of your kitchen. A standard refrigerator earthquake fastener will hold it in place even in the strongest earthquake.
You should also consider buying earthquake fasteners for all of your “loose” furniture – items that aren’t attached to the wall or floor and could cause damage either to themselves or the surroundings if they fall and break. Safe T Proof seismic fasteners are flexible and easily removed, which means that you can move your furniture around to suit your needs.
Earthquake Safety At Work
Most Canadians spend a large chunk of their waking hours at work, so it’s statistically more likely that you’ll be slaving away if an earthquake hits during daylight hours. The workplace offers many more potential threats than at home, so it’s important to work with your employer and make a plan about how to reduce the impact of an earthquake in the workplace:
Copier and printer fasteners – for many businesses, the photocopier and printers are the lifeblood of the organization. They are also some of the heaviest equipment in the building, and some of the most expensive to replace if they get damaged. Copiers and printers tend not be secured due to their size, so it’s worth investing in a set of floor copier and laser printer earthquake fasteners which will attach them to the ground and prevent them moving in the case of an earthquake.
Furniture earthquake fasteners – if you’ve ever pulled a filing cabinet draw all the way out and been impressed at just how much stuff you can fit inside it, imagine the terror of being near one as it shoots out towards in the middle of an earthquake. Installing furniture anti tip fasteners will prevent this from happening by securing the cabinets to a nearby wall. These fasteners come on and off easily, meaning that you can also move the furniture around if you reorganize the office.
Shelf protection – sometimes the impact of an earthquake can be in the clean up afterwards. Many organizations keep all their important records in binders on open shelves. Imagine the chaos of these shaking off onto the floor, the papers inside coming loose and mixing up and having to sort them all out again afterwards. You can prevent this by picking up shock cord restraints which are flexible cords that attach to the shelves and will prevent your files and books from coming flying off in the case of an earthquake.
You should also make sure that your organization has a plan for how to stay safe in an earthquake, including shelter in place plans, multiple evacuation routes in case of blocked exits and earthquake safety kits stashed on each floor or department of the business. Your employer should also make sure that all employees, included contractors and part time workers, know about the earthquake safety plans and how to keep them and others safe in the case of an earthquake.
Learning how to reduce the impact of an earthquake through the use of seismic fasteners, emergency lighting and tools isn’t rocket science, but it does require you to go through both your home and workplace room by room and look for potential hazards. With that list in hand, it’s then a much easier task to build a shopping list with Safe T Proof and prepare for an earthquake successfully.