SRD RECEIVES $319,000 GRANT TO SUPPORT TSUNAMI RISK REDUCTION INITIATIVES AND PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
Made possible through our partnership with multiple First Nations and municipalities, this funding will allow the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) to support tsunami risk reduction initiatives throughout and beyond the west coast of the region.
Campbell River, BC – “Made possible through our partnership with multiple First Nations and municipalities, this funding will allow the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) to support tsunami risk reduction initiatives throughout and beyond the west coast of the region” said SRD Chair, Mark Baker. “For example, developing a building plan and engineered design for renovating the Walters Island Community Hall in Kyuquot to serve as a Tsunami Vertical Evacuation Structure is just one of the initiatives that this funding will support”.
A tsunami vertical evacuation structure provides an elevated evacuation location where high ground is either nonexistent or is not suitable for everyone to reach before the arrival of a tsunami. By creating artificial high ground through building a vertical evacuation structure, refuge can be created closer to where people live and recreate, and lives can be saved. The Walters Island Community Hall would be redesigned to withstand effects associated with earthquake shaking as well as tsunami waves.
This funding will also help support exciting tsunami public education projects, such as:
- Screenings of the special documentary titled “Tsunami: 11th Relative” presented in thirteen different Vancouver Island communities. This documentary is being developed by Ocean Networks Canada under Phase 2 of the Northwest Vancouver Island Tsunami Mapping project which covers the history and stories of First Nation’s about earthquakes and tsunamis that have affected Vancouver Island.
- Paintings of First Nation murals on the shipping containers (seacans), which store emergency supplies across the Regional District. The theme of the murals will be earthquakes, tsunamis, and a changing climate.
- A tsunami education brochure will be developed that is written in the different dialects of the traditional language of the Nuu-chah-nulth peoples.
To learn more about this project or other disaster risk reduction initiatives, please visit www.srd.ca/emergency-preparedeness or contact SRD Protective Services Coordinator, Shaun Koopman at 250-830-6702.
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Media Contact: Shaun Koopman – SRD Protective Services Coordinator 250-830-6702 | skoopman@srd.ca