Could Canada be next?

As Canadians, we all likely find it difficult to imagine what it feels like to be taken under the harsh, relentless wrath of a natural disaster. Mercilessly torn away from our homes and onto streets now flooded with broken vehicles, orphaned pets and blood-stained asphalt.

It is difficult to imagine what it would have been like to be in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Jan. 12 or Feb. 27 in the Maule Region of Chile.

The devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake, tsunami and 50 aftershocks which shook and shattered cities along the Chilean shoreline killed nearly 800 people.

The powerful earthquake was 500 times more severe than the 7.0 which struck Haiti a month earlier, but killed 0.3 per cent of the estimated 250,000 declared dead after Haiti's quake.

A likely difference in the two death tolls was preparedness.

Chile is accustomed to earthquakes, receiving a magnitude 7.0 or higher at least once every five years. Haiti, on the other hand, is more prone to hurricanes.

After a massive 9.5 earthquake hit Chile in 1960 - the strongest ever recorded - a new building code was drafted by the Chilean government requiring all new developments be built following strict earthquake-resistant guidelines.

Most, if not all, Haitian buildings were not built to withstand earthquakes, which likely had a lot to do with the extreme variant in the two death tolls.

Now imagine the same occurring right here in Canada. It makes me wonder how well our buildings would hold up against even the slightest movement or shift under our own feet. How many of our lives would be taken by a similar freak act of nature?

Afterall, the only earthquake-related deaths in Canada ever recorded was back in 1929, when a 7.2 on the Richter scale rumbled beneath the Atlantic Ocean sending tsunami waves crashing over Newfoundland. An estimated 30 people were killed.

Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in our safe northern bubble, blissfully immune to the peril of frequent earthquakes, tornadoes, avalanches and tsunamis.

Natural disasters never truly hit home unless friends, loved ones or even acquaintances get caught in the action elsewhere in the world.

Thanks to two vague updates on a former classmate's Facebook page, I learned he and a couple of friends were smack dab in the middle of it all when the quake hit Chile.

"We are okay here, but it was pretty scary. Not sure when we can get out since the airport is closed," one message read.

I have tried to contact him since then via Facebook messages, but have received no reply. All I can assume is they are still trying to get a flight back home to Calgary.

According to an Associated Press news report, the airport in Santiago - Chile's capital city located 321 km from the epicentre of the quake, and where they'd likely fly out of - reopened its runways on Mar. 1 for a limited number of flights.

Until then, I suppose it's fingers-crossed for their safe return to Canada.