As the province rebuilds after the atmospheric river, experts hope for a heightened focus on future hazards from quakes and global heating
Slick, who served as an expert adviser on theinto the province’s earthquake preparedness, says recent events have had a “focusing” effect on how people understand natural hazards and risk. Empty store shelves and panic buying from both the pandemic and floods have exposed the costs of ignored warnings and the importance of preparing for future crises.
“When we rebuild, let’s not put blinders on and just focus on floods. Let’s make sure that we’re considering all hazards, like climate risks and earthquakes,” she said.“There’s going to be a rush to rebuild, and [there’s pressure] to put things back the way they were before,” said Glenn McGillivary, managing director of the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.
Even simple changes can lead to outsized benefits. As one of the province’s natural gas providers upgrades its metering system, McGillivary and others have called for seismic shut-offs to be installed on every line, as is common in Japan, to prevent fires after an earthquake.“We know that there will be a big earthquake, but we’re still not as prepared as we should be. And scientists are sayingwill get much stronger due climate change and flooding would get much worse,” said Nissen.
“That next big earthquake could be 100 years away. That’s not even in our lifetime. It almost feels hypothetical,” he said. “The cost of doing something is astronomical. But the cost of doing nothing is even worse.” This article was amended on 19 December 2021. An earlier version said that gas is rationed in major coastal cities. In fact those restrictions ended on 15 December 2021.
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