WATCH ABOVE: A government report says B.C. is not ready for a major earthquake but new steps are being implimented to ensure that we are. Kylie Stanton reports.
VANCOUVER – An Earthquake Consultation Report has found B.C. is not ready for ‘the Big One’.
In a release, the BC Government says it is clear from Henry Renteria’s report and from previous reports, that “more must be done at the individual level, and at all levels of government if B.C. is going to be adequately prepared for a major earthquake or other catastrophic disaster.”
It states the Province has begun, or will begin shortly, taking many steps to prepare British Columbia in the event of ‘the Big One’.
“We know that emergency preparedness is a shared responsibility that starts with individual British Columbians and our families. This can be as simple as the $5, $10 or $20 purchases to build our own earthquake kit, taking time to develop an emergency plan with our family, or meeting with our neighbours to make plans for how we would work together in the event of a disaster,” says Attorney General and Minister of Justice Suzanne Anton in a release.
“That said, we recognize that it is imperative that our government lead by example and put in place necessary supports and levers to help communities and families prepare for and recover from a disaster.”
So far, the province has upgraded the Provincial Emergency Notification System (PENS) to get information to emergency managers and the media, and they have participated in the Alert Ready national public alerting system to post alerts.
This spring the Province will also be undertaking an analysis of the future of the 911 call answer service on how best to streamline emergency communications services.
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B.C. has invested $61 million in bridge seismic retrofit projects, and replaced older bridges such as the Port Mann Bridge. Over the next three years the Province has committed $180 million to repair and replace provincial bridges.
There are also plans to upgrade schools, hospitals and dams.
However, there is still much to be done.
NDP public safety critic, Kathy Corrigan, says her first reaction was “here we go again.”
“This report, and the last report, were both very clear. The Provincial Government, the Liberal Government, has not made it a priority. The budget for Emergency Management BC, which is responsible for preparations, has not received increases,” she says. “It’s been flatlined for many years. The leadership is not there. This most recent report, the leadership is not there, the education is not there and the preparation is not there.”
Originally, schools deemed to be at high risk during a major earthquake were expected to be seismically upgraded by year 2020. Now, that deadline has been pushed back to 2030.
“We’ve had promises and those promises have been broken,” says Corrigan.
“A year ago we had the Auditor General report come out, the government’s responsibility was again political, rather than an action,” Corrigan adds. “It was to try to hire their friend John Les to oversee this further review that has been done now and after the public responded to that, they had to rescind that within a day.”
“But it’s been a political response, as oppose to an action response, time and time again.”
Global News reached out to Justice Minister Suzanne Anton but she was unavailable for an interview this morning and her ministry was unable to provide anyone to speak on the report.
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