Statement

I find it hard to watch the news coverage coming out of China following the massive earthquake there on Monday. A group I support fully in their campaign to encourage B.C. government to address the well-known school seismic safety issues in our own province, Families for School Seismic Safety, issued a statement today:

Families for School Seismic Safety

May 13, 2008

Statement in response to earthquake in China

VANCOUVER — In response to the tragic news from China in the wake of the earthquake that struck the Sichaun province, Families For School Seismic Safety (FSSS) expresses its condolences to the victims and their families, and encourages all levels of government to act swiftly to ensure similar tragedies are prevented.

According to news reports, thousands are dead and thousands more are trapped in building collapses following the powerful 7.9 magnitude quake. News agencies are reporting several school collapses that killed hundreds of children and trapped even more.

FSSS formed after the 2002 Italian earthquake, which claimed the lives of 26 students. Parents were shocked to learn that while homes withstood the earthquake, it was the school that collapsed.

“These terrible tragedies can and must be prevented, and we know how to prevent them,” says FSSS director Nathan Lusignan. “We’d hoped we’d never hear news reports like this again — reports of children being buried in their collapsed schools. But since then, many more schools have collapsed and many children have perished. These are preventable tragedies. They should not happen.”

In 2005, the BC government identified more than 700 BC schools as requiring seismic upgrades. Progress, however, has been very slow and few schools have been completed. Thousands of BC students continue to spend their days in schools assessed as being at high risk of significant structural damage in the event of an earthquake.

FSSS urges all levels of government to take an integrated approach to ensuring schools are upgraded in a timely way and in a manner that provides the best possible educational facilities to safely and effectively service future generations of students.

“We need concrete plans and clear timelines to ensure the work gets done as promised,” says Lusignan.

What is truly tragic about this situation - and will be when, not if, Vancouver is hit by a major seismic event - is that school populations are disproportionately represented in casualties. Think about it - 55,000 Vancouver children head off to school each morning and a majority of the facilities are so seismically unsafe that you could not open a coffee shop in one without spending tens of millions of dollars. Many are turn of the century buildings; most were built long before seismic safety even began to be recognized in our building codes.

If you are a Vancouver area parent or citizen I urge you to make your voice heard on this issue. The primary culprit in the on-going delays is the B.C. government, not local school boards.

Attached is PDF file containing Ministry of Education Seismic Safety Assessments; in older municipalities, such as Vancouver, you'll find the majority of buildings are listed as Moderate or High risk of structural failure in the event of a significant seismic event.