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Region joins earthquake monitoring network

BC installs four seismic sensors in town

Four seismic sensors installed in Powell River buildings this winter are now online and are helping to put the region on the map when it comes to assessing earthquake stress on structures.

Ryan Thoms, Powell River Regional Emergency Program coordinator, approached the BC Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MoTI) during a conference last November to see if Powell River could be included in the BC Smart Infrastructure Monitoring System (BCSIMS). The system provides a network of ground motion monitoring stations on bridges and in other public buildings. Most of the sensors are in the Lower Mainland and Okanagan, however, after earthquakes in Haida Gwaii, sensors were also installed on the islands and in Prince Rupert. The BCSIMS project is a partnership between the province, University of British Columbia civil engineering department and Natural Resources Canada.

“For the MoTI this is really about bridges,” said Thoms. “But getting these sensors up is a first step.”

One of the sensors was installed at Powell River airport, another was set at the BC Ambulance Service station on Duncan Street and the other two are at James Thomson and Texada elementary schools. Older sensors that had been installed up to 10 years ago by the federal government were found at the elementary schools and replaced with functioning sensors.

The sensors, which are roughly the size of a shoe box, are anchored into a building’s foundation and are wired into the building’s power and Internet connection. The sensors record motion that has happened.

“There’s no warning capacity in these sensors, yet,” said Thoms, “but there is a lot of talk about sensors that could give up to a minute warning as long as you weren’t right on top of [the earthquake]. A minute is a lot of time to get people out of elevators and children under desks.”

Thoms said that warning sensors could also help firefighter and ambulance crews to open their station doors automatically before the quake hits giving them the ability to react quicker.

The current sensors give civil engineers a way to assess if bridges or buildings are safe to use after a good shake.

Thoms said he is hoping that the next step is to get seismic sensors placed on the Eagle River bridge south of town and the Powell River bridge. “It would be nice to have some assessment ability on those bridges,” he said. MoTI crews attempted to install a sensor on the Powell River bridge last winter but were unable to due to a lack of an Internet connection.

The data collected by the BCSIMS network can be viewed online at www.bcsims.ca. For more information about regional emergency preparedness readers can visit www.powellriverrd.bc.ca/community-services-2/emergency-preparedness/.