Planning for Tsunami

Vancouver Danger Zones

This lab assess which areas across Vancouver would be in danger in the event of a tsunami. The final map, seen to the right, highlights not only the areas vulnerable but also identifies how the land is being used. Given that a large proportion of the land is residential, these neighbourhood have been recognised so that warning signs may be put in place.

The map revealed that almost 15% of the city is under danger. The figure was calculated by dividing the total area in danger by the total area of the city.

Within this danger area, there are several facilities including:

Healthcare:

• False Creek Residence
• Broadway Pentecostal Lodge
• Yaletown House Society
• Villa Cathay Care Home

Education:

• St Anthony of Padua
• Ecole Rose Des Vents
• False Creek Elementary
• Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (ECIAD)
• Henry Hudson Elementary

The facilities were identified using the intersect tool whereby a layer containing the healthcare and education facilities within the City of Vancouver danger zone was created. The attribute table for this layer was then studied to identify the specific facility names.

Accomplishment Statement 

Able to successfully produce a useful GIS map that may be used as a resource to warn the most susceptible communities to a tsunami flood. Has developed the skills needed to perform proximity analysis and how to convert raster files to vector. Can convert spatial data into statistics to provide qualitative summaries of the results collected from GIS analysis.