On 23 January 2018 at 3 am, sirens wailed, warnings were broadcast and evacuations began. Coastal British Columbia was in the path of a tsunami.
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Alaska caused Environment Canada to issue a tsunami warning. The warning was cancelled three hours later. As officials evaluate their emergency plans following the event, it is timely to review rescue and recovery plans if a tsunami had hit the BC coast.
M/V Asterix, the new Interim AOR leased by the Royal Canadian Navy, has humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) capabilities. From naval base Esquimalt, such a ship could respond relatively quickly. Anchored off shore the ship could use her landing craft, small boats and helicopters to deliver aid and evacuate casualties to the ship’s hospital. A mexeflote raft could land heavy construction equipment on the beach to aid in recovery. If local infrastructure is damaged or destroyed, Asterix could provide electricity and drinking water to restore services.
Davie shipyard converted Asterix from a container ship to an AOR in two years. A second sister ship could be converted and available as soon as early 2020, if a decision is made soon. All too quickly, the team that designed Asterix and the hundreds of workers that converted her will move on to other projects.
With no delivery date for the new RCN supply ships that are planned to be built, there is speculation about an AOR capability gap ranging from month to years. Asterix is a replenishment ship with HADR capabilties. The tsunami warning in British Columbia is a reminder that those HADR capabilities could be needed and deployed at home. It may have been a false alarm this time, but it might not be next time. It wouldn’t be the first time a tsunami has hit – on 28 March 1964 Port Alberni, BC was hit by a tsunami.
If you’re interested, take a look at “Resolve: Helping Canada Help Others,” a short YouTube video by Davie Shipbuilding demonstrating how Asterix could respond to such a disaster.
4 thoughts on “Tsunami Warnings, Supply Ships and Disaster Relief in BC”
Yes, the MV Astrix does have 2 LCVP’s (now over 48 years old) that were “rescued” from the old Protecteur/Preserver AOR’S. They could take 1 small vehicle/container or a small amount of stores/food each ashore and could rescue less than 40-50 personnel each at a time. These craft were more out of service than in over the years on the old AOR’s (I know this as I was posted to them). So the MV Astrix does have a very small HA/DR capability but would greatly struggle to keep up if a major disaster occurred. Canada needs a “truly” Canadian Strategic Amphibious Sealift Capability, and soon!!
Dear Mr. Dunlop
Are the LCVPs the British Mk2 ? What was the reason for the poor service record for the LCVPs ?
Thanks,
Garry
These LCVPs were used extensively in northern Arctic communities. I believe it was a combination of two things. The propellers and shafts were always getting caught in ice and would bend or break off. With few or no replacements or spare parts on-board, it was up to the crew to try and temporarily repair them. The lack of experience to actually do the repairs while at sea, at most times had very little success . The dockyard workers in Halifax also had very little knowledge and experience with them and most times had to order spares from Britain which took several months at best. At one time the RCN actually had 4 of these LCVPs on board each AOR, but because of so many frequent breakdowns, they only carried 2 at a time. The other 2 per ship were left in Halifax as spare parts. If Canada decides in the near future to acquire a ‘true’ amphibious sealift capability with shore connectors that really work, this will go a long way for the RCN when doing HA/DR assistance.
Sorry to post so late however Asterix never ever embarked LCVPs, they were all disposed of.