[The Times Colonist published the following commentary by my wife, Irene. With her permission, I've included it here, with the picture and resource links that were in her original submission, plus a couple of extra links.]

The tsunami risk map from the City of Victoria. The vast majority of the map is couloured green, indicating safe zones.

The Tsunami Risk Map from The City of Victoria. The safe zone is in green.

Fleeing by car after disasters—a bad idea

A commentary by Irene Allen, a resident of Vic West.

After the traffic jams accompanying the recent Snowbirds show and David Foster concert, several letters and social media posts have expressed concerns about how people would evacuate Victoria by car in the event of a tsunami or earthquake.

This assumption that everyone should jump in their car and drive away in the event of a tsunami or earthquake is not only wrong, but will likely get people killed.S

A tsunami affecting Victoria due to distant, or even nearby, earthquakes is not going to be a huge wall of water wiping out large swaths of the city as you see in disaster movies.

The tsunami risk map for Victoria clearly shows that the vast majority of the city, even in waterfront neighbourhoods like Vic West, James Bay, Fairfield, and Gonzales, is in the safe zone (coloured green). The few small areas at risk of inundation (coloured yellow) are all within two blocks of safe higher ground.

Furthermore, the tsunami advice from emergency planners in Victoria is:

Do not drive.
Keep roads clear for emergency responders.
If you are in a tsunami inundation risk zone, walk or bike quickly to a nearby safe zone, and stay in the safe zone.

As a person with mobility issues, I know that even a short two-block walk may be difficult for some, so I trust that the more able people leaving a risk zone will try to help those of us less able to cover those two blocks.

But what about earthquakes? A major nearby earthquake could disrupt water, electricity, and gas lines in Victoria. It could damage buildings.

Shouldn’t people be prepared to flee then?

No, they should not.

The earthquake advice from all levels of government is to shelter in place if at all possible.

That’s why we’re all supposed to keep seven days’ worth of water and emergency supplies in our homes, not just have a small grab-and-go bag.

If your home is not safe to stay in, people are advised to seek shelter with nearby friends, family and neighbours, and the city may open reception centres to help with food and shelter. If you do need to leave your home, the advice again is: do not drive.

Not only do the roads need to be kept clear for emergency responders, but after an earthquake the roads will likely be impassable or unsafe due to heaved asphalt, or downed trees, utility poles, and live power lines.

For an example of what goes wrong when people needlessly try to evacuate by car, just look at September 2005, when Hurricane Rita approached the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Local officials issued evacuation orders to those in potentially affected areas.

Tragically, with the memory of the Hurricane Katrina disaster fresh in their minds, many people from safe areas outside the scope of evacuation orders also chose to try to leave the area in their cars.

The resulting crush of traffic overwhelmed Texas’s highways, and people experienced 12 to 36-hour traffic jams and faced shortages of fuel, water, food, and medical attention.

As a result, 107 people died during the evacuation, many more than were directly killed by the hurricane.

Rather than make assumptions about how to respond in an emergency, and risk making the situation worse for yourself and others, familiarize yourselves with the excellent resources prepared by the City of Victoria, the Capital Regional District and the province. Make sure your Shelter In Place Kit is in good shape, and you know the small tsunami risk zones that you’d need to leave.

Resources

CRD Prepare Yourself

PrepareYourself.ca. (2024). Prepare Yourself: a guide to emergency preparedness in the capital region. Retrieved August 15, 2026, from https://www.prepareyourself.ca/media/file/prepareyourself-workbook-2024pdf

BC’s Get prepared for an earthquake page

Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General. (2026, July 24). Get prepared for an earthquake - Province of British Columbia. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/emergency-management/preparedbc/know-your-hazards/earthquakes-tsunamis/earthquakes

Hurricane Rita evacuation

Wikipedia contributors. (2025, December 22). Hurricane Rita evacuation. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Rita_evacuation

Irene's Commentary in the Times Colonist

Allen, I. (2026, August 15). Comment: Fleeing by car after a disaster is a bad idea. Times Colonist. https://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/comment-fleeing-by-car-after-a-disaster-is-a-bad-idea-12668907

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