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Quake Cottage tours south Island region starting Saturday

Oak Bay and the University of Victoria bring the Quake Cottage to the UVic ShakeZone Sept. 12
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Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell, left, UVic’s Gayle Gorrill and Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen rided the Shake Zone 8.0 earthquake simulator at the university in 2016. (Christine van Reeuwyk/Oak Bay News) Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell, left, UVic’s Gayle Gorrill and Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen rided the Shake Zone 8.0 earthquake simulator at the university last year. (Christine van Reeuwyk/Oak Bay News)

Get a taste of an earthquake when the Quake Cottage returns to the region this week.

The Quake Cottage touring Greater Victoria seats three and simulates an 8.0 earthquake complete with sound and video showing what that magnitude quake might look like in the streets.

“Last year was the very first time it had ever been on the Island and people had been asking for it for many years,” said Eileen Grant, manager, Oak Bay Emergency Program. “People really found it useful in that it was scary but not too scary, just scary enough that it got them thinking about getting prepared.”

The Quake Cottage first appears tomorrow (Sept. 9) at the fire station 2 in Saanich.

Oak Bay and the University of Victoria bring the Quake Cottage to the UVic ShakeZone. Open to staff, students and area residents, ShakeZone runs from Sept. 12 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the quad outside the library

The simulator appears alongside displays from the Insurance Bureau of BC, the Oak Bay Emergency Program, the UVic Bookstore, Ocean Networks Canada, Emergency Management BC, St. John Ambulance and the Saanich Emergency Program.

Students and residents rode the simulator and came away paying far more attention to that information around them, Grant said of the 2016 ShakeZone.

“The wanted to know what it was they could do to get prepared. So we had lots of demand for it to come back,” Grant said. Previously only available fro m the US, Lower Mainland company, Motion Safe purchased it as part of their business. “They’re also very interested in giving back to the community so they’ve made it available,” Grant said.

It hits the Lower Island for about a dozen days, starting with a Saanich fire open house Sept. 9 and visiting Esquimalt, Camosun, UVic, Victoria, Colwood, CFB Esquimalt, Salt Spring Island, North Saanich and BC Transit during the tour. IBC supports the tour through transportation and insurance costs.

“It’s getting great use and we invite everybody who has interest at all to come along. It’s free and again we’ll be set up along the perimeter with all kinds of good and useful information,” Grant said.

The Shake Zone simulator tours Greater Victoria starting Sept. 9 in Saanich:

9/9/2017 Saanich Fire Station No. 2, Saanich

9/10/2017 Bullen Park, Esquimalt

9/11/2017 Camosun College

9/12/2017 University of Victoria

9/13/2017 City of Victoria – Centennial Square

9/14/2017 Juan de Fuca Recreation Centre, Colwood

9/15/2017 Department of National Defense, CFB Esquimalt

9/16/2017 SSI Fire Station, Salt Spring Island

9/17/2017 North Saanich/PEMO


 

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cvanreeuwyk@oakbaynews.com

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Christine van Reeuwyk

About the Author: Christine van Reeuwyk

I'm dedicated to serving the community of Oak Bay as a senior journalist with the Greater Victoria news team.
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