Spotlight on Natural Resources Canada, (Part 2)
Institutional Feature, October 2010 (Page 3 of 4)
Whether at active plates or intraplates, the work of this sector of NRCan ultimately lies in updating the seismic provisions of the National Building Code of Canada every 15 years. In order to build anywhere in Canada, the ground motions need to be accounted for, and understanding earthquakes and their aftershocks play into this role.
To that end, the GSC has been monitoring seismic activity in Canada for over a century. As time has passed and technology has changed, the methods have advanced: where once there were local observations called in by staff working in remote locations, now there are sensor networks and satellites.
The Earth Sciences Sector has done some rather innovative work with some pre-existing technology, working to commercialize a system for recording and reporting strong ground motions.
As David McCormack, the Head of the Canadian Hazards Information Service (CHIS), explains, "These aren't as sensitive as the other networks we have across the country. We've used commercial, off-the-shelf components, such as the accelerometers that are used in cars to trigger airbags, and the result is a cheap system that can detect relatively strong shaking.
"The advantage of having these cheap systems is you can afford a lot of them, and deploy them throughout urban areas and directly measure the variations in ground shaking that come during an earthquake because of differences in geology, topography, soil types, etc.
"In the last 30 years, I think we, as a society, evolved and became a lot more conscious about the impact of our activities on the environment, and the mining industry evolved the same way." -Louise Laverdure
"The major factors in the damage that an earthquake causes are the size of the quake itself and its location, and the local conditions. These sensors provide measurements about how the environment in an area responds which is a function of the local geology, how strongly any particular location in an area shakes."
Being able to measure shaking outside of an expensive observatory, in many different locations, to map variations of the shaking is a great advantage for both seismic studies and emergency measures—letting first responders know where to concentrate their efforts.
CHIS tested this new system on the world stage: at the Vancouver Winter Games earlier this year. The venue was the ideal proving ground for several reasons. As McCormack puts it, "The Olympics is a big deal, and there was a lot of focus on us and our government's ability to put our best foot forward, to get everyone taken care of as safely and successfully as possible in the event of an earthquake.
"We also did it for our own reasons in that we wanted to test, and to an extent, showcase the technology and the concept, because it could be a focus of conversation when talking to other groups that might have infrastructure they consider critical and might like to have this same system. It makes the discussion about the benefits and practicalities of this system more concrete."
SO HOW DOES THE SYSTEM WORK?
Sensors were put into place at critical Olympics facilities so that in the event of an earthquake, the CHIS team would have immediate information at the monitoring center regarding the amount of shaking that had occurred. Measurements led to a green-orange-red assessment system.
"The normal procedure after an earthquake is you need to get an engineer to inspect your building and say whether it's safe to be occupied again and when," McCormack explains. "In a situation like the Winter Olympics there are issues of rapid business resumption, and the whole world watching; each hour that it takes to get a facility up and running again seems like a really long hour. If an earthquake occurred during the Games, obviously we'd need things up and running again as quickly as possible.
"Under the color-coding system, Green meant that the shaking wasn't a big deal at all, and once everyone had stopped flapping their arms, they could go back to their curling. Orange meant the facility would need to be checked, and red meant that definitely the shaking had gone beyond the design of the facility and it could not be used until it was inspected and the building would be closed. Under this system, you can get immediate assessment and reassurance, and resumption of activity in at least some structures."
Photo 6:
"Located aftershocks in Haiti using seismograph stations
installed by Natural Resources Canada."
View larger image, complete description, and source
credit in tab below.
Although there weren't actually any earthquakes during the Winter Games in Vancouver, the system still intrigued several of the owners of the facilities enough that they requested to keep the sensors in place after the Olympics were over. The demonstration of the sensors during the Olympics also opened up dialogue with other potential groups interested in implementing the sensors.
"In particular in Ottawa after the June 23rd earthquake, government property people who were concerned about resumption of operations after earthquakes expressed an interest," McCormack says. "Also, subsequent to the earthquake in Haiti, we were also able to use it as an example of the sort of system that could be helpful, particularly in countries where we have a diplomatic presence, which might not necessarily have the same building standards or the same monitoring infrastructure as we're used to here in Canada."
Speaking of Haiti, NRCan was a key player in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes there in January 2010, in the provision of both monitoring equipment and social support. Maurice Lamontagne was a member of the team that went to Haiti to help.
"In general, the GSC is not heavily involved internationally in earthquake projects, but in the case of Haiti, due to the fact that there was no local seismographic network, we saw the possibility of participating in a better understanding of what was going on there," he explains.
Natural Resources Canada: Haiti Shocks Detailed
Natural Resources Canada: Haiti Shocks Detailed
Located aftershocks in Haiti using seismograph stations installed by Natural Resources Canada.
Credit: © Stephen Halchuk, Department of Natural Resources Canada. All rights reserved. USED WITH PERMISSION.