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Emergency Management BC ‘not adequately prepared’ for catastrophic earthquake: report


March 27, 2014   by Canadian Underwriter


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Emergency Management BC is not prepared should a catastrophic earthquake occur in British Columbia, a new report from the province’s auditor general has concluded.

 Auditor General Russ Jones also found that neither the province nor EMBC has made preparing for a catastrophic earthquake a priority.

The report echoes conclusions from the Office of the Auditor General’s 1997 report on emergency management. It now says that in the past 17 years, EMBC “has not made significant progress.”

“Successive governments have decided to allocate scarce public resources to meet more immediate pressing demands, rather than to adequately prepare the province for a catastrophic earthquake that may or may not occur,” Jones said in a press release this week.

“EMBC’s current operating budget for emergency activities is approximately the same as it was in 2006. In addition, EMBC staff is busy with daily emergencies such as floods and fires so catastrophic earthquake planning is done as a side-of-desk activity.”

The report points to EMBC’s response to a potential tsunami in Haida Gwaii in 2012 as an example of its deficiencies.

“EMBC’s internal report on this incident found that EMBC did not have sufficient personnel with the experience, knowledge and training to effectively respond to an earthquake and tsunami events and their standard operation procedures were inadequate,” the report says.

The organization’s mandate is also broad, and other emergencies such as floods and fires consume much of its staff’s time, the report notes.

Overall, the report includes nine recommendations for improving B.C.’s earthquake response, including that “the government develop long-term goals for catastrophic earthquake preparedness, including what it expects EMBC to achieve in the next five, 10 and 15 years.”

It also suggests that EMBC report annually to the public on its level of preparedness so that British Columbia residents can assess their own vulnerability and readiness.

“EMBC appears to have taken the report quite seriously and is working to develop and implement strategies to address the deficiencies noted in this report,” the Office of the Auditor General’s statement noted.

The full report is available on the website of the Office of the Auditor General.


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