Did you feel that?
That seems to be the question of the day. An earthquake hit eastern Ontario and yes, we felt it!
Our headquarters in Mississauga felt the tremors and our national office in Ottawa was evacuated. Thankfully, we work for the Red Cross and Disaster Dude John Saunders was on hand to give us some timely advice. We’re not used to quakes in Ontario – so a quake with a magnitude of more than 5.0 is a pretty big deal for us!
So what do you do when a quake hits? First thing, John says, is to find a structurally strong part of the building or a heavy piece of furniture (John says he was on a call with the Disaster Management managers when the quake hit. He took cover under his desk at the first sign of a rumble and finished the call from there!). If it's safe to do so, you should evacuate to an open area. Click here for more safety tips on how to be prepared for a quake.
Once we realized we’re all ok, we started to track media and put calls out there to assess damage to see whether our personal disaster volunteers needed to respond. So far, we haven’t had any requests from communities, volunteers or our police/fire partners.
We’re so lucky to be living in Ontario. Consider this – the quake that hit Haiti was 7.0. Although 7.0 is substantially more significant, it is a reminder of what could happen in an earthquake.
Did you feel the quake? If so, leave us a comment and share your experience with us.