A new study says the Pacific coast has experienced 22 major earthquakes over the last 11,000 years, and is due for another.

The study looked at sediment disturbance in Effingham Inlet, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Study author Audrey Dallimore, of Royal Roads University, says researchers using state-of-the-art radiocarbon dating determined the last so-called megathrust earthquake in the zone that stretches from northern Vancouver Island down to California happened more than 3,000 years ago.

The world’s largest earthquakes are all megathrust earthquakes, which occur when there is a slip along the fault between a subducting and overriding tectonic plate.

There has never been a megathrust earthquake along the west coast in the written history of Canada, but the study found that megathrust earthquakes occur about every 500 years in the region, although they can stretch out for up to 1,000 years.

“The last megathrust earthquake originating from the Cascadia subduction zone occurred in 1700 AD. Therefore, we are now in the risk zone of another earthquake,” Dallimore said in a statement.

“Even though it could be tomorrow or perhaps even centuries before it occurs, paleoseismic studies such as this one can help us understand the nature and frequency of rupture along the (zone), and help Canadian coastal communities to improve their hazard assessments and emergency preparedness plans.”

B.C. forms part of the Northern American portion of what is called the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a 40,000 km horseshoe of ocean trenches and volcanic arcs where 90 per cent of the world’s earthquakes take place.

According to Natural Resources Canada, the Geological Survey of Canada records more than 1,000 earthquakes in western Canada each year. More than 100 magnitude-5 or greater earthquakes have been recorded in the ocean west of Vancouver Island in the past 70 years.

The research by experts at Royal Roads, the Geological Survey of Canada, UBC and the University of California is published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

On June 9th, 2013, a new Board of Directors was elected for a 3 year period (2013 – 2016) by members of Ayra Samaj Educational & Cultural Society of British Columbia. Mrs. Madhu Varshney was again elected as President with other members of the Board: Gyanendra Sundar, Satya P. Varshney, Vinod Sekhri, Rajeev Kumar, Kushwaha K. Singh, Yatindra Singh, Hari Varshney, Bob Yogendra Singh, Arvindh Gupta, Umesh Prasad, Manohar Naidu, Savitri Devi Singh, Satish Saxena and Yogesh Cheta.

Arya Samaj has its own prayer hall at 6884 Jubilee Avenue in Burnaby. In addition to regular programs of Havan and Bhajans every Sundays (10am to 12 noon), the Society conducts several special programs throughout the year including lectures by invited saints such as Sawmi Sampurnananda Sarswati, who is again visiting Vancouver in August, 2013.

The Society’s next main function is on Saturday, June 29th 2013 at its Hall from 6pm to 9pm with dinner titled “Indian Arrival: The Legend of our Ancestors”. It is a musical performance by Dr. Swami Satya Prakash who holds a Doctorate in Music.

With research showing South Asians being among the people most susceptible to heart diseases in Canada, a walk is being organised in the city of Edmonton to create awareness about the issue.

South Asians in Edmonton, the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta, will participate in the DIL Walk coming Saturday which will feature a free lunch, doctors on hand to check blood pressure, and advice from dietitians.

The event is being organised by the DIL Walk Foundation to create awareness about heart diseases and a healthy lifestyle.

Though DIL here is an acronym for Do It for Life, ‘dil’ also means heart in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu.

Research shows that South Asians – people from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka – are five times more susceptible to cardiovascular diseases and develop heart diseases at an average of 10 years earlier than the Caucasian population in Canada, according to the Edmonton Journal.

Among the factors behind this, diet is one, say doctors.

“We often use breads such as roti or naan, the way many use a fork and knife,” Ken Kalia, a resident of the Mazankowski Heart Institute in Edmonton, was quoted as saying.

“Easily you’re putting in 100 to 200 calories per roti and some will go through six or eight of these, separate from their regular meal.”

According to Sudheer Sharma, a cardiologist at the CK Hui Heart Centre at the Royal Alexandra Hospital, it is not culturally prevalent among South Asians to work out in a gym or use a treadmill, which leads to them leading a sedentary lifestyle.

“In the olden days, the large belly of a South Asian was a sign of prosperity,” the report quoted him as saying. “If you were thin, you were poorer and worked harder.”

South Asians number around 50,000 in Edmonton and represent the largest ethnic group in that Canadian city.—IANS

To be inducted at the Surrey Board of Trade’s 49th Annual General Meeting and President’s Dinner on June 20th at Eaglequest Golf Course from 5:30-9pm is the new President of the Surrey Board of Trade, Bijoy Samuel.

Bijoy Samuel is the General Manager for REDFM 93.1FM. He will serve a one-year term from July 2013-end of June 2014. Bijoy will serve as the 50th President of the Surrey Board of Trade, in what is a high profile volunteer position that helps to positively impact Surrey’s business community at levels of government and advances the success of the Surrey Board of Trade.

Gerard Bremault, CEO, Centre for Child Development will be inducted as the 1st Vice-President.

The Surrey Board of Trade annual Board Director nomination process brought in the following new faces joining its Board of Directors by acclimation:

1. Steven Mo, District Vice President, TD Commercial Bank
2. Parm Sidhu, Director Airport Operations, Abbotsford International Airport
3. Steven Stew, Partner, B&B Contracting
4. David O’Sullivan, President, PW Trenchless
5. Ann Marie Walsh, Coordinator Health Promotion, Canadian Cancer Society – BC Chapter

The Fraser Institute’s Report Card on British Columbia’s Secondary Schools 2013, the go-to source for measuring school performance and improvement, will be released Monday, June 17 at 6:30 a.m. (Pacific).

The report card provides parents with information they can’t easily get anywhere else. In addition to five years of academic results, the report card shows which B.C. secondary schools have improved, or fallen behind, in academics over the past five years.

A news release with additional information will be issued via Marketwire on Monday, June 17 at 6:30 a.m. (Pacific).

School results will be published in Vancouver 24 Hours and Sing Tao. The complete results for 284 secondary schools will also be available at www.compareschoolrankings.org, where visitors can compare individual school results on a variety of academic indicators and ratings.

Peter Cowley, co-author of the report card, will be in Vancouver and available for media interviews the week of June 17.