VANCOUVER, Canada - Many coastal B.C. residents were preparing to head for the hills Friday after a devastating magnitude 8.9 earthquake in Japan prompted a tsunami warning that ended up creating barely a ripple when the waves reached the West Coast.But before the weak waves arrived, there were late night phone calls to loved ones, double checks of survival kits, and, for some, stirred-up memories of the big tsunami that hit the Vancouver Island city of Port Alberni more than 45 years ago.
Local beaches were shut down and emergency personnel guarded the entrance to Pacific Rim National Park near Tofino to prevent entry. However, people in Tofino are split between those who take tsunami warnings seriously, and those who don't worry as much. - Schools were closed for the day along the vulnerable west coast of Vancouver Island and an emergency operations centre was set up after the advisory went out covering the north coast and the Haida Gwaii Islands, the Bella Bella and Shearwater areas and Vancouver Island from Cape Scott to Port Renfrew.
- In Port Alberni, the 1964 Good Friday tsunami from Alaska tore the lumber community apart, but spared every life. On Friday, residents gathered at the shores of the funnel-shaped Alberni Inlet to quietly stare out to sea.
A statement issued on behalf of Prime Minister Stephen Harper offered condolences to those affected by the earthquake and tsunami and said "Canada will stand by the people of Japan during this difficult moment."The tsunami warning was issued for much of the Pacific Rim, including Hawaii, New Zealand, the entire U.S. western coast, Mexico and Central and South America.
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