SRD Invites Community Participation in High Ground Hikes

Campbell River, BC – The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) is encouraging community participation in four upcoming exercises taking place April 13 – 17, as part of Tsunami Preparedness Week. Among these events are three High Ground Hikes, aimed at raising awareness and helping ensure residents are better prepared in the event of a tsunami.

“Preparedness goes beyond the individual—it’s about building community resilience,” said SRD Chair Mark Baker. “In times of crisis, we rely on each other—whether that’s lending a hand, sharing resources, or offering emotional support. Emergencies can be overwhelming, but when we come together, we’re better equipped to respond and recover.”

The exercises during Tsunami Preparedness Week will focus on distant tsunamis generated from the Alaska-Aleutian Subduction Zone (AASZ) in order to allow communities to test different aspects of their distant tsunami warning systems. AASZ tsunamis produce the second highest tsunami risk to the west coast communities in the Strathcona Regional District. The average tsunami arrival time is 3 hours and 15 minutes following an AASZ earthquake with waves ranging from 2.9m (Yuquot) to 6.8m (Gold River) in height.

Tsunamis generated by the local Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) tsunamis produce the greatest tsunami risk to the west coast communities in the Strathcona Regional District. If you are near the coast anywhere when an earthquake occurs, immediately drop, cover, hold on and then move to higher ground to protect yourself from a potential tsunami. “If it knocks you down, then go to high ground,” said SRD Manager of Emergency Services, Shaun Koopman. “You should not wait for notifications from any other channels such as radio, cellphone and tsunami sirens as these will likely be damaged from the earthquake. Also, these tsunami warning systems are for distant tsunami sources, due to the time it takes to process the data. The earthquake was your warning about a local tsunami.”

The tsunami wave arrival time following a CSZ earthquake ranges from 25 minutes (Kyuquot) to 54 minutes (Tahsis) with wave heights ranging from 12.4 meters (Kyuquot) to 7.5 meters (Tahsis).

Please join us for a free community barbeque taking place at each High Ground Hike at the tsunami muster site. Each participant will be entered into a draw to win prizes ranging from a cellphone battery pack charger to a household disaster preparedness kit. The following table provides a list of Tsunami Preparedness Week 2026 events.

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