Someone on here will know far more about this than I, but I recall talking with some emergency management folks on the Ministry of Health side about the earthquake risk on the West Coast.
A 7.0 quake striking close to downtown Vancouver, the most densely populated piece of Canada West of Toronto, would immediately result in over 6000 dead and times 10 wounded.
All the hospitals would collapse, of course, because they aren't earthquake proofed. All the bridges and other infrastructure would disintegrate. All the structures around the downtown area, nearest the water, would cave in as alot of them are built on shaky foundations and breeze blocks chucked in the west coast cedar swamp so they could build up neighbourhoods like Gastown and False Creek, which were originally temporary sawmill towns less than 100 years ago.
The Lower Mainland is the only major municipal region in Canada without co-located CAF resources. You know, the ones who do the heavy lifting in emergencies like this: the Army. Most reservists will be victims, as opposed to rescuers, of course. Vancouver airport, the only way to get aid/ CAF in, and casualties out, quickly will liquefy and burble into the salt chuck.
Frail/ vulnerable people would just die like flies in winter. If it struck in winter, healthier people would die like flies too. Dealing with tens of thousands of bodies will be unmanageable, therefore Cholera would likely kick in pretty quick and kill many more.
Because of the entitlement culture on the West Coast, no one has prepared themselves to survive for the mandatory minimum of two weeks without food, shelter, medicine, clothing etc.
Glass half full: the subsequent, gigantic, Tsunami would do a good job flushing the dead, wounded and debris out into Georgia Strait
There's a map in this article that shows the main areas that might be effected. I'm glad that I live on a rocky Island, far from there!
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