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TITER RRR A we NR Oe Fy PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, January 12, 1988 -- 5 Viewpoint by John B. McClelland THE BIG SUBDUCTION Is winter starting to get you down? Are you thinking about pulling up stakes and - heading some place where the climate is a tad warmer? Florida is nice, but they have funny gun laws down there. How about Southern California? Great climate, but who wants to live in an earthquake zone. Vancouver Island and the lower mainland of British Columbia are about the most temperate spots in Canada. It is nick-named Lotus-land, and the flowers bloom virtually 12 months of the year. How nice it would be to take afternoon tea and then stroll through the garden in the middle of February. But if the earthquakes of Southern California give you the willies, you'd best forget British Columbia and stay right here in Ontario even if the car won't start and you risk a heart attack shovelling the driveway. Some scientists are predicting that southern British Columbia is headed for a big subduction. They don't know when exactly, could be 200 years away, or it could be tomorrow. ' So, what's a big subduction? Well, that's another name for earthquake, a particularly devastating kind. According to F.D. Cooper, writing in the latest edi- tion of Emergency Preparedness Canada, the entire length of the Pacific coast from northern California to British Columbia could be hit by an earthquake. What is happening, he writes, is that sections of the ocean floor are slowly converging with the North American continent and slipping beneath it. If one of these sec- tions becomes locked, it creates strain. As this strain builds over a long period of time, one or several large earthquakes would be necessary to relieve the strain. The author qugtes a B.C. scientist, Dr. Dieter Weichert, who predicts quite bluntly the odds are now 70/30 that the big one will occur in the next 200 years. And it could be as soon as tomorrow. The Juan de Fuca Plate, a huge area of the ocean floor, is actually subducting under the ocean floor plate which anchors to Vancouver Island, the Lower B.C. mainland, and the Washington-Oregon coasts. These were exactly the kind of things that were hap- pening further south in 1985 when Mexico City was hit by a severe quake. According to the author of this interesting article, should a big quake hit British Columbia, Washington and Oregon, the results would be devastating, far more serious than what happened in Mexico City. And the reason partly is that people living in B.C., Washington and Oregon are almost totally unprepared for an earthquake. They have never experienced a serious quake and they don't want to even think about, let alone start tak- ing concrete steps to prepare for the day when it happens. r The author paints a very grim picture of what would happen to Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland in the event of a severe quake. Dykes would be smash- ed causing widespread flooding; the damage to roads, bridges, buildings, rail lines, hydro towers would be enormous. Those hospitals which survived the quake simply would not be able to cope with the number of injured. But the most crucial factor, according to the author, is that in B.C. there are very few volunteers trained in 7 heavy rescue of people in trapped buildings. Firefighters have some training, but after a major quake, every fireman would be involved fighting the fires that would break out. It's not that B.C. has any shortage of trained volunteers. In fact there are some 8,000 of them in the province. Only trouble is their training is in how to get stranded skiers off the side of a mountain, or rescue pleasure boaters whose motor conks out. Few, if any, have training in how to find people trapped in the ru ble caused by an earthquake. : And unlike Los Angeles, a city where earthquak are taken seriously and disaster plans are in effect,' cities in B.C. do not have overall response plans prepared. The article, by Fred Cooper, the Regional director for Emergency Preparations in B.C. and the Yukon is fascinating. It's also pretty frightening to think that the warnings are being given, but not heeded. It's an arti- cle based not on wild speculation, or doomsday predic- tions simply for the sake of scaring, but rather on scien- tific data, written by somebody who obviously has done a lot of research into. earthquakes and the terrible devastation they bring. Reading the article made me think that good old On- tario with its bone-chilling winters, spring black-flies and summer humidity is not such a bad place to call home. It also made me think that were I a resident of Vancouver or Victoria, I would be asking my municipal, 'provincial and federal politicians just why so precious little has been done to prepare for the big subduction. Yesterday's | Letters Memories 70 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 10, 1918 Mr. John Stonehouse of Roland, Manitoba, is visiting friends in town. Mr. and Mrs. Morley Campbell expect to leave for Florida later this week. ' Lt. Col. Sam Sharpe has been awarded the D.S.O. There is a rumour that he may come home on furlough this spring. Mr. John Roach has purchased the St. Charles Hotel Business from Mr. S. Mosure, and the transfer will take place January 16, 1918. The first to be called to the colours under the Military Service . Act in our town were Messrs. Percy Ingram and George Raymes. They left for Oshawa on Tuesday., 45 YEARS AGO ' Thursday, January 14, 1943 We extend heartiest congratulations to Mr. A.W. Allin who celebrated his 85th birthday on Sunday, January 10, 1943. We are pleased to report Mr. Allin is much improved in health. Pte. Douglas Gerrow, R.C.0.C. of Brantford, spent the weekend with relatives and friends. Mr. George Channell leaves the end of this week for Guelph to take a few weeks special course in making a different type of cheese. The many friends of L.A.C. William T. Beare will be glad to know he received his "Sparks" recently when he graduated as a Radio Technician from the R.A.F. School at Clinton, Ontario. Bill was among the few who were recommended for an additional eight week course. 35 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 8, 1953 Mr. and Mrs. Per Hvidsten have purchased the Uxbridge Times- Journal from Harold J. Cave, editor and publisher of the Times- Journal for 34 years. The Hvidstens comes to Uxbridge from North Bay where they operated a job printing plant. Walter '"Turk" Broda, the idol of Canadian hockey fans, will meet his admiring minor hockey class in Port Perry on Saturday morn- ing. The ex-Leaf netminder, now coach of the Weston Dukes, will instruct all Port Perry and district youths who have registered with the minor hockey. This top hockey instruction by Broda was made possible by some local merchants and devoted sports fans in Port Perry. 30 YEARS AGO Thursday, January 9, 1958 A dinner was held at the family residence on Sunday, December 29th to mark the 50th Wedding Anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. R. Davey. They were married in Port Perry on Saturday, December 28th by Rev. B. Greatres at the home of Mrs. Davey's parents, Mr. and Mrs. David Perkins. , (Turn to page 8) Our farmland under attack To The Editor: I am concerned. Port Perry and Scugog Township is under attack; major forces of population shift are altering the matrix of our society, altering lifestyles and expectations. The farm community is under at- tack and the right to farm as well as the space to farm is under pressure from development and alternative land use proposals. The Provincial Government has made proposals to preserve Agricultural Land and is drafting legislation to protect farm opera- To The Editor: I am writing this note to express my appreciation of the valuable ser- vices the Port Perry Star gives to the boys and girls and people of Scugog Township. Over the past year and a bit that I was Principal of Prince Albert Public School, we called on you many times to come to the school to cover events important to our boys and girls. Never once did you make excuses or fail to come, so our students and their parents had the . great pleasure of seeing their pic- tures and names in print. Often, it was Cathy Olliffe who responded to the call as one who once was a '"'Cub" reporter on the London Free Press, I can verify that her reporting is factual and ac-- curate. I particularly enjoyed her writings on my retirement because it reflected so well my feelings towards teaching and the fact that I'll miss my friends at Prince Albert. I will continue to look forward to reading the Star knowing that your tions from nuisance complaints. However the legislation is long in coming and the pressure on agriculture in Scugog is immediate. Agriculture is a major economic factor in Scugog Township. Census data indicates that the market value of farm investment in Scugog is $161,299, 120. The total value of Agricultural products sold is $30,266.770, wages paid $2,375,298, equipment repairs $1,546,923, in- terest paid $2,589,746 to itemize a' few of the major costs returned to our local economy. In total Scugog | Principal says thanks coverage of education and school events will reflect your strong com- mitment to the community. Sincerely, B.D. Cornwall, Caesarea, Ont. Agriculture returns $27,586,122 to our economy. I am amazed that thjs silent sector of our community returns so much. I am also very con- cerned that uncontrolled expansion of the residential area in our township will inhibit the vitality of the farm community. Farms need space to carry on the business of farming, If conflict with neighboring residents is to be avoid- ed there must be adequate separa- tion between farms and residential land use so that the normal odors, and--noises associated with farm operation do not give rise to "nuisance complaints."' This can best be achieved by long term plan- ning where the development necessary to the growth in this area is directed to designated areas that enhance existing urban areas. Good Farm land must be preserved and protected from encroachment if at all possible. To this end I ask that the people of Scugog Township encourage the Council to support land use policies (Turn to page 6) to the editor. Letters to the Editor ... our policy It has always been the policy of this newpspaper to encourage our readers to make use of the letters to the editor column. Our readers have a right to freely express their opinions and view- points on just about any subject, and we feel that a lively letters column helps make a better community newspaper. - We insist, however, that a letter writer sign his or her name. On rare occasions, we will agree to with-hold publication of a letter writer's name, if we feel there are very good reasons to do so. Under no circumstances will this paper print an anonymous letter While we enjoy receiving letters from our readers, we must con- tinue to insist on knowing the identity of the writer. { ' { 1) { CS a a ---- oe