October’s 7,7 magnitude earthquake off the BC coast has turned into a gold mine for scientists. What they’re learning could help prepare us for the next one.

The biggest earthquake in a generation on the B-C coast has sent Canada’s top earthquake scientists and their instruments to the remote islands of Haida Gwaii:

Installations .. that are generating data that could transform the way Canadians prepare
for and manage future disasters.

So .. here on Hot Springs Island .. Mike Schmidt’s team has installed a GPS seismometer .. and a solar powered satelite transmission network, to help measure the earth’s movements to the  milimeter:

And scientists now know .. the rattling didn’t stop  with the quake on October 27 – in fact, there’ve been as many as 2000 smaller quakes since ..and the land itself may have shifted significantly:

One of the biggest mysteries is what happened to the hot springs here:

They went dry. Only cold rainwater is here now:

The instruments Schmidt’s team is leaving behind may help solve some of the mysteries…
they’ll keep transmitting all the earth  movements, for month to come:

This has really been a landmark event for scientists. They’ve been able to come so close to where their labs are on Vancouver Island to get first hand information, which say could dramatically change the way we prepare for earthquakes, build buildings and plan our evacuations.