The 2024 Emergency Preparedness Expo in Oceanside on Saturday, Sept. 7 will feature an earthquake simulator, among many other displays and booths providing best practices in the event of a natural disaster. (MotionSAFE Inc.)

By Alex Rawnsley

be prepared

Oceanside expo focused on simple emergency preparedness skills

Sep 7, 2024 | 6:31 AM

QUALICUM BEACH — An event this weekend is looking to ensure one, simple message is relayed loud and clear: be prepared.

Emergency Oceanside, in partnership with the Regional District of Nanaimo, City of Parksville and Town of Qualicum Beach are hosting an emergency preparedness expo on Saturday, Sept. 7 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Qualicum Beach Civic Centre.

RDN manager of emergency services Erica Beauchamp said the region is host to a variety of situations where people may need to be self-sufficient for days at a time, including earthquake, wildfire, flood or windstorm.

“The goal is to ensure people are getting the messaging that personal preparedness is something they should be planning for, both grab and go as well as sheltering in place. There’s a need to be able to do either one, emergency dependant.”

Around 30 service providers and other organizations will have booths setup in the exhibition hall, providing information on emergency preparedness, survival skills, fire safety and more.

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Speakers and other presentations are scheduled to run through the day, covering topics like food security, farming and livestock, healthcare and wildfire risk.

A help desk will also be setup to sign local residents up to Voyent Alert!, the notification system all areas of the RDN use in an emergency.

Beauchamp said the system is critical in getting information out, fast.

“There’s often times a non-understanding of how they might learn about an emergency or how they might get notifications during an emergency. All three local governments in the north, as well as the City of Nanaimo in the south use Voyent Alert! for notifications, so we’ll be teaching about that.”

Also available will be ‘Quake Cottage’, an earthquake simulator which can provide a realistic interpretation of an 8.0 magnitude tremor.

Full details on the event, including a schedule of speakers and demonstrations, is available on the Emergency Management Oceanside website.

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