Langara international students provide earthquake advice for Vancouverites

By TUAN TRAN & DANIEL BUMANGLAG

Langara international students coming from a more earthquake-vulnerable country can provide helpful and lesser-known tips for people in B.C., a seismically active zone.

Katrina Mirambel, former Langara web and mobile design and development student, said she is from the Philippines where earthquakes are common, which often result in destroyed buildings, injuries and loss of life. Mirambel said that she has an earthquake plan in place.

“I always have an emergency bag ready to bring and I would always make an effort to know where to meet with colleagues when I’m at work in case there’s an earthquake,” said Katrina Mirambel.

Mirambel said she would also avoid beaches after the earthquake as it “may cause a tsunami.”

“I make sure to know where the concrete pillars are. I was taught to stay behind the pillars because it’s supposed to be earthquake proof concrete. It would be the last thing to be destroyed,” said Mirambel.

Another Filipino Langara student, Neeraj Jeed, said while he doesn’t have an emergency kit, he is still prepared with canned food, bandages, cleaning alcohol and a flashlight.

Jeed said he recommends people to always have a fully charged power bank in case of an emergency because “you never know what could happen.”

“The most common thing that people have are phones,” said Jeed. “If you have a low battery and you are in dire need of emergency communication, having a power bank aside could help out.”

Few students are prepared

Drew Egan, geography instructor at Langara College, said one of the biggest misconceptions his students have is that there is no point in worrying because earthquakes are unpredictable.

“If I ask a class of 30 students how many have a plan, 10 per cent of the class might say yes,” said Egan. “Maybe one or two of those students will have a kit.”

Langara psychology student Simran Simran said she does not have an emergency earthquake kit. Another Langara student, Joseph Yohanis, said he doesn’t have a kit either and his family is just now considering purchasing one following last week’s earthquake.

Gambling with safety

According to the United States Geological Survey, two earthquakes of 4.8 and 4.5 magnitudes occurred near Vancouver in February.

Egan said Vancouver is more prone to seismic events because it sits in a subduction zone, in which the friction and released pressure between two tectonic plates can cause frequent earthquakes.

Brett Gilley, an earth, ocean and atmospheric sciences professor at UBC, said although earthquakes are not as scary as people imagine, having an emergency kit is important.

“While it’s very unlikely that you will die in an earthquake,” Gilley said. “It’s relatively likely that you will be in an earthquake, if you live your whole life in Vancouver.”

Gilley said big earthquakes are unpredictable and happen every 150 to 500 years, with the last big earthquake happening 320 years ago.

“They’re not like clockwork,” said Gilley. “So, when you look at that, we see that we’re due for an earthquake.”