British Columbians prepare for 'the big one'

This week is earthquake awareness week and many British Columbians marked it by participating in the Great B.C. ShakeOut event.

The Port of Vancouver hosted the annual event to raise awareness for earthquake emergency preparedness.

“Drop, cover and hold on” is what organizers of the ShakeOut want people to practice for what is sometimes called “the big one.”

"It's not 'if,' it's 'when' the big one strikes,” said Naomi Yamamoto, the president of BC Earthquake Alliance.

"The big one" is the powerful earthquake that is expected to strike the west coast between northern Vancouver Island and northern California within the next 50 years.

"If that whole thing ruptures, it would be an over magnitude 9 earthquake,” said Alison Bird, an earthquake seismologist with Natural Resources Canada.

She says the shaking could last around 30 seconds, crumbling some buildings and potentially triggering a tsunami.

It’s why she and other emergency preparedness experts joined Thursday to practice the earthquake drill.

"I encourage everyone to take personal responsibility for their own preparedness, because when a major earthquake happens, a lot of people need help, and there just is not enough first responders to help everyone,” said Bird.

About 4,000 earthquakes strike B.C. each year, and while many are too small to be felt, last month a magnitude 4 quake shook parts of the South Coast.

Around 50 per cent of people in Metro Vancouver have earthquake insurance, one step in preparing for “the big one,” according to experts.

"It's really important that you have supplies that will last you about two weeks and that message hasn't really resonated yet because you can imagine a severe earthquake, you're going need to water, you probably won't have electricity so you need to keep warm."

B.C.’s new earthquake alert system launched earlier this year, and experts say it could give residents a few seconds' warning before a mega-quake rocks the west coast.