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An internal memo from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has warned that Canada’s earthquake and tsunami-monitoring systems may have been compromised.
In the memo obtained by CBC News under the Access to Information Act, NRCan suggests that the federal IT department – Shared Services Canada – is partly to blame for the mismanagement of the aging equipment.
“NRCan continues to struggle to obtain appropriate levels of service from Shared Services Canada (SSC), in particular to repair and replace communications infrastructure for our mission-critical systems, to provide response outside working hours, and to define service standards for critical communications links to support tsunami warning,” the March 02 document read.
The memo was part of a report that reviewed the aftermath of a January 23, 2018, offshore earthquake that occurred in the Gulf of Alaska, which had an epicentre of approximately 320 kilometres.
While the earthquake only resulted in a 12cm wave that did not cause any damage, the incident revealed a flaw in the warning systems.
In a US Senate committee a week after the earthquake, Alaska state seismologist Michael West explained that a local power blackout “caused internet outages that essentially shut down parts of the seismic network for more than an hour.” West added that many of the systems lacked backup power.
The memo, authored by NRCan associate deputy minister Glenn Mason, said that Canada needs to look at how to better detect tsunamis and how to reduce the number of false alerts. Mason also emphasized that the defunct IT systems need to be repaired or replaced, with particular concern regarding SSC’s role in managing the alarms.
This is not the first time the SSC has been called out for its alleged poor handling and response. In 2017, the RCMP wrote to the agency complaining about a mass failure of vital routers supporting core network and IT functions, which prevented the police force from accessing the Canadian Police Information Centre database.
