As part of the public-safety funding announced in the 2016 provincial budget, the Province is committing $1.6 million in funding toward a flood mitigation project in the City of North Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver that will protect an important, business area and parkland.

During the same timeframe as B.C.’s Exercise Coastal Response, neighbouring states and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Region 10 are conducting an exercise called Cascadia Rising 2016.

To make the regional portion of Emergency Management BC’s $1.2-million earthquake exercise – taking place in Port Alberni from June 7-10, 2016 – as real as possible, the Province is relying on the time and donations of many businesses and volunteers to help deliver Exercise Coastal Response (https://news.gov.bc.ca/stories/exercise-coastal-response-2016), B.C.’s first ever, full-scale earthquake and tsunami response exercise throughout the entire provincial landscape.

Emergency Management BC launched an alert from the Provincial Emergency Notification System this morning as part of Exercise Coastal Response (https://news.gov.bc.ca/stories/exercise-coastal-response-2016), the Province’s first full-scale earthquake exercise undertaken in B.C. The notification occurred shortly after the 7:45 a.m. commencement of the exercise.

In the midst of British Columbia’s first full-scale major earthquake and tsunami response exercise, Emergency Social Services (ESS) volunteers and the B.C. branch of the Salvation Army are getting the opportunity to experience what volunteering at “The Big One” might feel like.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is on the verge of Exercise Coastal Response (https://news.gov.bc.ca/stories/exercise-coastal-response-2016), a culmination of the dedicated work of hundreds of Emergency Management BC employees and public safety partners across the province. This is the province’s first full-scale earthquake and tsunami response exercise, and the labour and planning involved in preparing for it over the past 10 months has been extraordinary.

We know the area of land and coastline that now makes up British Columbia has experienced many major earthquakes and tsunamis in the past, and history has taught us that it is only a matter of time until the next “Big One” strikes. This is not speculation – a major earthquake is coming to the west coast. We as individuals, families, communities and as a province must do everything possible to better prepare for this eventuality. We are all in this together.

The BC Government has a number of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) and partnerships in place to support response and recovery efforts during disasters.