The document discusses the relationship between recent earthquake activity and Canadian Tire retail locations in Canada, coinciding with Emergency Preparedness Week 2014, themed 'know your risks.' It highlights that Canadian Tire stores, especially in southern British Columbia and southern Quebec, are near recent earthquakes that could impact operations and safety. The analysis provides a list of the five closest earthquakes to Canadian Tire stores, emphasizing the importance of understanding risks for business preparedness.

1. Recent Earthquakes Near
Canadian Tire (CanTire)
Retail Locations
5 June 2014

2. Each May Canada coordinates Emergency Preparedness Week, an
initiative to help Canadians plan for emergencies. The theme for this
year’s week, “Know your Risks”, got us thinking about business
preparedness as it relates to earthquakes.
(Emergency Preparedness Week 2014 promotional graphic)

3. Why earthquakes? Well, earthquakes are among the most deadly
natural hazards, and SigActs catalogs earthquake activity in near real
time from reporting by the USGS, Natural Resources Canada and the
European‑Mediterranean Seismological Centre.
(visualization of global plate tectonic movement)

4. In the spirit of Canadian Emergency Preparedness Week, we set out to
understand where earthquakes have occurred in a close proximity to a
staple of Canadian living: Canadian Tire. With 494 retail locations,
Canadian Tire (CanTire) is one of Canada’s most powerful retailers, and
the place to shop for tools, sporting goods, auto parts and home decor.
(CanTire store in Oakville, Ontario – circa 2004)

5. An earthquake near a Canadian Tire store could significantly impact
customers, employees, business operations and local infrastructure.
Using SigActs Pro, we plotted the location of all Canadian Tire stores
(with red dots), and then overlaid a heat map (with purple dots) of all
worldwide earthquake activity occurring between January 1, 2014 and
June 1, 2014.
(Canadian Tire stores as red dots, and earthquake locations as purple dots)

6. This visualization clearly shows that Canadian Tire stores in Southern
British Columbia and Southern Quebec are in the vicinity of recent
earthquakes. We can take this analysis one step further by doing a
“nearest neighbor” search to produce a list of the five earthquakes in this
dataset that have occurred closest to CanTire retail stores.
(Canadian Tire stores as red dots, and earthquake locations as purple dots)

7. Store
Number
CanTire Store
Location
Earthquake
Date
Distance from
CanTire Store
Earthquake
Magnitude
306 LA MALBAIE, QC 2014/01/09 2662 meters
(1.6 miles)
1.5
155 LAVAL, STE-DOROTHEE, QC 2014/04/04 3231 meters
(2 miles)
1.7
234 DOLLARD DES ORMEAUX, QC 2014/04/04 3720 meters
(2.3 miles)
1.7
008 BLENHEIM, ON 2014/03/24 4148 meters
(2.6 miles)
1.9
363 FORT ST. JOHN, BC 2014/05/18 4159 meters
(2.6 miles)
2.2
Five Earthquakes Nearest to
Canadian Tire Stores
Since 1 January 2014

8. The SigActs feed of real time event data is a great way to visually and
quantitatively identify areas of risk. By understanding your risk, you can
take steps to minimize or avoid injuries, damage, and long-term financial
consequences.
Visit SigActs Real Time Earthquake Reporting Map
SigActs provides data to let you monitor natural disasters in real time,
and to see how these critical incidents may impact your facilities,
personnel and supply chains.

9. This information originally appeared on the SigActs Blog under the categories of: Corporate Safety,
Corporate Security, Earthquakes, Emergency Preparedness, Public Safety, Retail Security.
SigActs built the Internet's premier location-based
news API, and has extensive experience making
geospatial data accessible and actionable.