WATCH: As province-wide earthquake drills were held today, questions about spending on seismic upgrades for BC schools. Kylie Stanton reports.
More than half-a-million people ducked and covered at 10:16 this morning for the Great BC Shakeout, the province’s annual earthquake drill.
The drill is designed to remind people what to do when the big one hits.
But the NDP says these drills also serve as a reminder the provincial government hasn’t kept its promise to seismically upgrade high risk schools.
According to the NDP, Premier Christy Clark has earmarked $584 million to seismically upgrade 45 schools over the next three years, but that hasn’t happened.
Yet, the Liberals say the commitment is there.
Since 2001, $2.2 billion has been spent.
143 schools have been completed, ten are currently under construction, seven more are in the planning stages.
Another 53 are supported to proceed.
Education minister Peter Fassbender says the projects are very complex and take a while to get done.
There are still 126 B.C. schools that are deemed high-risk and have yet to be addressed.
An additional $600 million will be needed for those upgrades.
WATCH: Miranda Myles, the co-chair of ShakeOutBC, talks about being prepared for the big one.
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