The Editor,
Re. “Earthquake jolts B.C., lights up social media” (tricitynews.com, Dec. 30).
In 2014, the auditor general of British Columbia issued a report on our province’s earthquake preparedness and found that both our government and Emergency Management BC (EMBC) are “not adequately prepared for a catastrophic earthquake” and that “British Columbians are at significant risk.” The auditor general reached similar conclusions in 1997 and, in 2014, found EMBC had not made significant progress.
What has our provincial government done since then? Yes, there is the Great British Columbia ShakeOut.
But after “drop, cover and hold on,” we cannot hold on to our desk until the cows come home (if they survive the quake).
The audit report highlighted that emergency management is a shared responsibility between local authorities and the provincial government, and stated, “When local authorities are overwhelmed, the provincial government needs to take a strong leadership role to mitigate the effects of the emergency.”
In case of an earthquake, is there a disaster recovery plan between the province and the municipal governments? If so, has the plan been tested and demonstrated to be adequate?
Real earthquake preparedness takes more than glossy brochures and an event once a year.
At the local level, I believe municipal governments can take a more visible role in preparing, at least for our own cities. We can go beyond “drop, cover and hold on.” After an earthquake, where shall we go in our city? Where can we get help at our local level?
We can create and test our own local disaster recovery plans so that we can be locally prepared.
That way, we can reduce the likelihood of local authorities being overwhelmed and be less dependent on the provincial government.
H.M.S. Leung, Coquitlam
