To some great fanfare this week, the Province of British Columbia held “The Great British Columbia Shakeout”. (I could not make that up – who thought that would be a good name?) This event encouraged B.C. residents to “drop, cover, and hold on!” in a mock earthquake that was, luckily enough, scheduled to occur at 10 am on January 26. I, unfortunately, had a conflicting meeting and could not cower under the closest chipboard-laminate furniture that I had available. While the idea to have the education session has merit, it kind of went a little too far in my opinion – the website is a social media “register here and see who else is participating”, like-button filled extravaganza – it even includes a flash video game called “Beat the Quake” (clever, these folks who come up with the names…). Admirable as it is to try to be hip and cool about this sort of thing, and to really want to engage the next generation of B.C. residents (and voters), it is ironic that they will be the ones most at risk by the next large quake that will hit the area.
The B.C. Auditor General’s report of December, 2008 (PDF) shows that of the 750 schools in B.C. that need upgrading or replacement, there were only 151 that had any work done on them, most of it very basic such as attaching cabinets to walls and putting protective film over glass to protect in the event of shattering. It also found that the $1.5 billion to upgrade (or in some cases replace) all 750 schools was inadequate. So kids, hide under your desks as they might be the only thing strong enough to protect you in the quake.
This is against the backdrop of a mishmash of seismic regulatory requirements that means that businesses have to jump through hoops in a vain attempt to get things upgraded, while the government can take their time with long-tail plans due to funding availability and the sheer size of public infrastructure. Thankfully, due to B.C.’s proclivity to tear down and rebuild, many properties have simply been replaced.
The government of B.C. has also taken a fairly unclear view of one of the biggest insurance-related risks that will occur in an earthquake – fire following the shake. In the recent update to the insurance act, the fire definition was not clear as to whether fire following a quake was part of the basic fire coverage. That raises questions such as – will there be only the one deductible? Will those who don’t buy earthquake cover still be entitled to fire cover if the proximate cause was the earthquake? Questions that should have been resolved 10 years ago, not at this late stage. If anything, the 2001 Nisqually Earthquake in Washington state should have been a wake-up call, and perhaps they should read some of the documentation released by Environment Canada and other Federal Agencies; it appears we have gone 10 years without any appreciable movement from the government of B.C. Well, except of course for the cool flash game that you can play while they dither about and tinker with getting their infrastructure fixed. I wonder if the game stars Chicken Little?
hey, I’m unable to subscribe for the RSS feed. Can you assist or do you know why? thanks for your info.
Unfortunately, I don’t. You should be able to click the RSS feed button and have it added to your feed software. Sorry!