Tens of thousands of school children at risk
Its been my experience that many, if not most, parents in Vancouver (and likely in surrounding jurisdictions) are completely unaware of the serious building safety issues – a clear and present danger, if you will – facing the vast majority of Vancouver’s schools. Despite all the efforts of parent lobby groups such as Families for School Seismic Safety there remains a very large body of parents who are unaware that their kids walk into unsafe buildings every morning.
Its quite simple, really. Of Vancouver’s 109 elementary and secondary schools, almost 100 do not meet earthquake building codes. In fact, the largest percentage of these schools are deemed at high risk of significant structural failure in the event of a moderate or strong earthquake.
Put plainly – if we get the “big one” that scientists say is all but certain, some, or perhaps many, of Vancouver’s brick school buildings will fully or partially collapse. If that happens during school hours, many – perhaps hundreds or even thousands – will die. The risk is real.
Make no mistake about it, a big seismic event will hit Vancouver – its only a question of time. BC politicians at all levels are playing roulette with the lives of our children.
Scope of the Problem
Most Vancouver school buildings were built before building codes took into account seismic forces; as you drive around the city you’ll note that most schools have at least one or more building that was constructed out of unreinforced masonry – brick – which is quite literally the most dangerous construction one might imagine to find in the modern world in region which will one day be hit by a massive earthquake.
- A provincial assessment done in 2004 found that 311 schools in BC are at high risk of sustaining severe damage to structural elements in the event of a moderate to strong earthquake.
- Vancouver has 56,000 students in its regular daytime programs; there is another 20 – 30,000 (conservative estimate) other facility users including parents, volunteers, night class students and other building users (sports programs, rentals, etc.).
- Vancouver has a large collection of buildings at risk of structural failure and collapse. Many were built in the early 1900’s – these buildings are typically the ones at most risk, however even buildings constructed in the 1960’s (such as Eric Hamber) are also considered “high risk”.
Putting this into perspective, each morning in Vancouver alone there are over 30,000 elementary and secondary school students walking in the doors of buildings that are considered “high” or “moderate/high” risk of significant failure in the event of a moderate/strong earthquake.
If that wasn’t a serious enough problem, emergency planners and seismologists are planning for and anticipating our region will experience a strong to severe or even catastrophic earthquake – quakes in the range of Richter scale 7, 8 or even 9. Historically the region is predisposed to such monster earthquakes – in January of 1700 the region was hit with a monster quake off the coast of Vancouver Island at the top end of that scale. The resulting tsunami from that quake crossed the entire Pacific Ocean and destroyed warehouses in Japan.
When will such a thing occur here? Could be in two minutes. Could be in two years. Could be in another two decades. All we know is that these events happen in cycles of approximately 400 – 500 years. Given that many of Vancouver’s school buildings are over 100 years old, its past time to put them out to pasture and high time we started protecting our children.
The risk is real. The timing is unknown.
What’s being done about it?
Mostly talk, and not nearly enough action. In 2004 at the Union of BC Municipalities meeting, in advance of the 2005 election, Gordon Campbell made a commitment to spend $1.5 billion and fix or rebuild all the schools at risk.
Some progress has been made, but very little. While a number of projects have been started over the past decade, very few projects have been initiated under Campbell’s 2004/2005 15 year plan. Initially 80 schools were placed on the “fast-track” for upgrades or complete replacements. Only 4 projects have started construction.
The Ministry of Education then added more schools to the fast track list – now 95 projects are slated for accelerated action, yet there’s been no acceleration and in fact, whether its school boards or the provincial government or both, the actual pace of project approvals and starts is slowing down, even as other government infrastructure gets upgraded.
In the throne speech of 2007, the government indicated its commitment to urgently upgrading the provincial legislature. Over the past 2 decades this province has proactively upgraded bridges, tunnels, dams, prisons and the liquor branch. Citizens did not have to ask for this risk mitigation work to be carried out, nor have they had to ask that the legislature be upgraded. Mitigating these risks and having carried out the schools assessment indicates an acknowledgment of the importance of this work.
Apparently Campbell’s idea of priority setting is to protect the asses of politicians in Victoria, and the supply of booze in the province, but not our children.
Why, What, Who are the Roadblocks?
The provincial government and the VSB continue to point fingers at one another. The VSB says its complying with the Ministry edicts; the Ministry and Campbell say that the VSB is being obstructionist and not rationalizing its school space (read chopping schools). But as the sponsor of the 15 year plan and funder of such projects, clearly the onus is on the provincial government to make things work, and things are not working.
In the back end of Campbell’s mandate, its not hard to imagine that intrusive ideological politics are not being played out with our public school system by the provincial government, with apparently willing accomplices to be found in a number of the current Vancouver School Board of Trustees.
At a recent meeting of the Facilities and Planning Committee, Families for School Seismic Safety presented a recap of the issue and sought to seek a renewed commitment from the Board to accelerating the pace of seismic safety projects. Chair person Shirley Wong didn’t even do us the courtesy of looking at the presentation – for most of the meeting she sat with her back turned to the screen and ate her dinner.
In an in camera session of that same committee, Shirley Wong is reported to have made a cover her ass move, by asking Director of Facilities Les King if the children in Vancouver schools were safe. He said yes, what else could he say?
Would they be safe in the event of a major earthquake? For reasons of liability we can be quite positive that Les King would not answer in the affirmative.
Vancouver School Board trustees take note: The 2008 election is not far away, and seismic safety will be an election issue, you can be guaranteed of that.
Why do parents have to keep asking for school seismic safety? In the aftermath of tragedies elsewhere in the world parents grieve that the school should have been the safest building in town unfortunately schools are frequently the most highly damaged structures in earthquakes around the world, sometimes catastrophically. Isnt this precisely the kind of work we elect public officials to demonstrate accountability in carrying out?
By contrast, our neighbours in Seattle will have completed upgrading and improving their school buildings by 2010 and have spent $1 billion USD to achieve this. Citizens voted on 3 consecutive ballot initiatives to see their money spent in this manner.
Families for School Seismic Safety have done an excellent job at unearthing facts and presenting arguments as to why this issue is so important and time critical. Its likely that the Premier’s commitment to address school seismic safety in a 15 year time span was made in a large part due to the efforts of FSSS.
Yet Campbell’s promise rings increasingly hollow. British Columbians don’t need election promises without action and I’m convinced that as more parents become aware that their children’s schools aren’t safe today – in many cases weren’t safe the day they were built – that politicians will be forced to act. If not now, by the 2009 provincial election.