The estimates, according to emergency officials, are grim: as many as 10,000 dead and more than 128,000 injured across Metro Vancouver when the “Big One” strikes B.C.’s coast.
“This is going to be one of the most catastrophic earthquakes that has ever hit this hemisphere,” said public safety consultant Henry Renteria.
Renteria is the former head of California’s Office of Emergency Services. In a report commissioned by the BC Liberals that was released in March, Renteria identified around 40 areas of concern regarding earthquake emergency preparedness.
His key recommendations: upgrading aging infrastructure, strengthening the relationship between government and the private sector, and giving more money and power to Emergency Management BC (EMBC) to ensure public safety.
READ MORE: No damage, injuries reported after earthquake rattles B.C.’s South Coast
“There’s been a tremendous amount of cutbacks, loss of staff, programs that have been shut down over the last several years that have reduced the size and the ability of that agency to carry out some of its duties,” Renteria said.
The opposition says funding for EMBC has flatlined and the government has failed to take action to protect British Columbians.
‘”When your schools collapse, when your hospitals collapse, when you bridges collapse, guess what, your economy is grinding to a halt pretty quick,” NDP critic Mike Farnworth said. “We know a major earthquake is going to happen. We need to take it seriously.”
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“We can’t just look at the Emergency Management BC budget,” said Naomi Yamamoto, Minister of State For Emergency Preparedness. “We need to look at the over $17 billion that’s been invested since 2001 in seismic upgrades. So we’re looking at bridges, hospitals, schools, highways.”
More than 200 projects are already done, says the province. But in Vancouver there is still concern over schools. Originally, schools deemed to be at high risk during a major earthquake were expected to be seismically upgraded by year 2020. That deadline has been pushed back to 2030.
“The government has always said the money is there but…we want it to flow quicker and we want to get the job done because every day that goes by with our schools not being seismically upgraded is a day when kids are in schools that are not as safe as they can be,” said Mike Lombardi of the Vancouver School Board.
Ultimately, Renteria says people need to take care of themselves because the government won’t be there in those initial moments after the mega-quake hits.
– With files from Amy Judd and Yuliya Talmazan
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