The Community Spotlight series highlights communities, organizations and individuals who are taking innovative actions to help build resilient communities. Coastal communities in B.C. are getting ready for Tsunami Preparedness Week. Leaders from Metchosin, Port McNeill and Tofino share their ideas to get the whole community involved.
Get prepared for a tsunami
Tsunami Preparedness Week is an annual preparedness campaign to raise awareness about B.C.’s tsunami risk. Each year coastal communities host High Ground Hike events to mark the week and give people the opportunity to practice getting to a tsunami-safe location in their community.
Tofino was the first community to host a High Ground Hike back in 2016, and they continue to this day. Metchosin and Port McNeill hosted their first events in 2024 and are excited to plan again after receiving great feedback from participants.
We spoke to Stephanie Dunlop from Metchosin, Chris Woo from Port McNeill and Hilary O’Reilly from Tofino, to learn more about their events, and hopefully inspire other communities to participate in Tsunami Preparedness Week 2025.
Take the first step
When asked about how to start planning they all suggested first thinking about who their audience is. Children? Older adults? Visitors to the community? This can help shape your event and guide who else from the community you may want to bring in for support, like the school principal or neighbourhood pod leaders.
Bring the community together to practice local evacuation routes
In Port McNeill, the school was thrilled to be involved last year and the students stepped up to help plan the event. The youngest students all created blue streamers and held them to act as the “tsunami wave” as everyone walked to the tsunami-safe location.
In Metchosin, the audience was older adults. There are multiple waterfront locations, so neighbourhood pods met at their closest beach and walked to their tsunami-safe locations. This allowed individuals to practice right in their neighbourhood, identify accessibility challenges, and gather afterward to discuss. Going into 2025, neighbourhood pods are still engaged and exploring the opportunity to mark roadways and sidewalks so there is a visual representation where the tsunami-safe locations are.
Tofino gets the whole family involved with a fun preparedness fair including emergency preparedness relay-races and other activities. In 2025, they’re planning to host a community-wide evacuation drill along with other smaller events throughout the week. They’re keeping the event fresh and engaging for everyone, even after eight years.
Get involved and participate in High Ground Hike
High Ground Hikes offer a great opportunity to practice your tsunami evacuation route and get community members comfortable with the sights, sounds and people that may be associated with emergency response. All in all, it’s a great way to bring the community together to talk about preparedness.
Participate in tsunami preparedness week from April 13 – 19, 2025:
- Host a High Ground Hike in 2025. Reach out to PreparedBC@gov.bc.ca for more information about how to get involved
- Explore PreparedBC’s Earthquake and Tsunami Preparedness Guide and share with friends
- Review or make your home emergency plan
- Follow along with PreparedBC on Facebook, Instagram and X for daily trivia questions and a chance to win prizes
Other ideas? We’d love to hear actions you’re taking to get prepared for a tsunami. Learn more at PreparedBC.ca/Tsunamis.
