A Century of Hazardous Events in British Columbia
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Hazard, Risk and Vulnerability Analysis for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority of British Columbia Compiled by Laurie and Larry Pearce Pearces 2 Consulting Corporation for the Ministry of Health Services March 2005 Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION............................................................................................ 1 2. HAZARDOUS EVENTS ................................................................................. 2 3. PAST HAZARDOUS EVENTS...................................................................... 3 3.1. OVERVIEW ................................................................................................. 3 3.2. VANCOUVER COASTAL HEALTH SERVICES AUTHORITY ............................ 4 3.3. RICHMOND HEALTH SERVICES AREA....................................................... 15 3.4. VANCOUVER HEALTH SERVICES AREA.................................................... 17 4. NORTH SHORE / COASTAL GARIBALDI HEALTH SERVICES AREA ......................................................................................................................... 24 5. POTENTIAL RISKS..................................................................................... 43 6. VANCOUVER COASTAL HEALTH SERVICES AUTHORITY – RISKS ......................................................................................................................... 44 6.1. VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS ..................................................................... 61 6.2. COMMUNITY CAPACITY - RICHMOND ...................................................... 64 6.3. COMMUNITY CAPACITY - VANCOUVER.................................................... 65 6.4. COMMUNITY CAPACITY – NORTH SHORE/COAST GARIBALDI ................. 67 6.5. PREPAREDNESS ........................................................................................ 75 6.6. VULNERABILITY OF PLACE ...................................................................... 76 7. REFERENCES............................................................................................... 77 7.1. REFERENCES FOR VANCOUVER HEALTH AUTHORITY HAZARDOUS EVENTS ................................................................................................................. 77 7.2. REFERENCES FOR RICHMOND HEALTH SERVICES AREA HAZARDOUS EVENTS ................................................................................................................. 78 7.3. REFERENCES FOR VANCOUVER HEALTH SERVICES AREA HAZARDOUS EVENTS ................................................................................................................. 78 7.4. REFERENCES FOR NORTH SHORE/COAST GARIBALDI HEALTH AUTHORITY HAZARDOUS EVENTS ............................................................................................ 79 i 1. Introduction This booklet represents an assessment of the hazards, risks and vulnerabilities of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. The companion booklets are: ! Potential Hazardous Events in British Columbia: A Glossary ! Impacts of Hazardous Events on Health Care Service Delivery Systems This material should be read in conjunction with these two booklets. The rest of this booklet covers: ! a comprehensive list of hazardous events which have occurred over the past 100 years for each of the Health Service Areas; ! a high level risk analysis for each of the potential hazardous events; and ! a high level vulnerability analysis in terms of place, capacity to respond, and preparedness. 1 2. Hazardous Events When completing a hazard, impact, risk and vulnerability (HIRV) analysis, the first step is to identify potential hazards. A companion booklet, Potential Hazardous Events in British Columbia: A Glossary has been made available to provide both definitions and discussions regarding these potential hazards; readers should consult this when reading this section. The second step is to complete a risk analysis. A risk analysis provides the answer to the question “What is most likely to happen here?” Most risk analysis models look to the past for a clue as to what may occur in the future. This list of past hazardous events is comprehensive, but not complete. Decisions had to be made as to what to include, and what to omit. A decision was made to look at only the past one hundred years, with recognition that this leaves out British Columbia’s most significant hazardous event, the January 26, 1700 great subduction earthquake. Every year there are hundreds of motor vehicle accidents, numerous small plane crashes, boating accidents, and minor train derailments. Arbitrarily, the threshold was set at five fatalities, although, if there was a marked potential for additional fatalities (e.g., close calls), or significant injuries it was included. Similarly, hundreds of isolated flooding events occur regularly, and the threshold for inclusion was set at those that were significant enough to be included on some sort disaster database, or to have garnered sufficient media interest. In compiling this information, extensive use was made of existing government databases, both federal and provincial. Private databases such as those established by Munich Re, the “Weather Doctor,” “Amateur Radio.ca,” and Bob Jones’s “Canadian Disasters - An Historical Survey” were very useful. Janet Looker’s book, “Disaster Canada,” and “In the Face of Disaster” by MacLean’s enriched our understanding of past disasters. “British Columbia: Hazard, Risk and Vulnerability Analysis,” written by Laurie Pearce in 1997, was widely referenced, as were the various media sources. Undoubtedly events have been missed; the omission of these events is solely the responsibility of the writers: either we didn’t locate them, or they failed to meet the criteria for one reason or another. And for that, we apologize, for when it happens to you – no matter what the criteria, it is truly a disaster. Looking to the past is only one part of completing a risk analysis; most risk analyses only look at what has happened, not what may happen. Don’t make the mistake of relying solely on what has happened as that is only part of the analysis – there is a first time for everything and focusing only on the past does not help you face the hazards of tomorrow! 2 3. Past Hazardous Events The following section begins with a brief overview of the hazardous events which have occurred in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. Following this overview, the next section lists those hazardous events which affected most, or a major part of, the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. For example, the 1918 Spanish Flu affected all of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and, in fact, the entire Province. Thus, this first section encompasses major events which affected the Lower Mainland, or a larger part of the Province. The following three sections include a comprehensive listing of hazardous events which occurred in only one Health Service Area: Vancouver, Richmond, and Vancouver North Shore/Coast Garibaldi. 3.1. Overview There have been 179 documented hazardous events in the three Health Service Areas of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority. Of these events, many were hazards that covered cross-Health Services Areas (e.g., the Greater Vancouver District) and included hazards such as windstorms and snow storms. The most notable hazards were: floods caused by rain storms (24), landslides (22), windstorms (11), hazard material spills – transportation (8), forest fires (8), snowstorms (7), and motor vehicle accidents (7). The hazardous events resulting in the most deaths include the 1918 Spanish flu, the heat wave in 1936, and the polio outbreak in the 1950s. Most of the events with numerous casualties took place in the early 1900s and involved avalanches and landslides. However, in the last twenty years there have been a number of storms, landslides, and avalanches each of which have resulted in more than 5 deaths. 3 3.2. Vancouver Coastal Health Services Authority British Columbia 1 Disease - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy 2003/05 Fatalities: 0 Injured: n/a # of Evacuees: 0 Estimated Costs: n/a Estimated Insurable Losses: n/a The province's cattle farmers continue to reel from the impact of a case of mad-cow disease (discovered in Alberta), which has blocked exports to the United States since May of last year. Industry representatives say most farmers are managing to survive with help from financial institutions, although two national feed chains have closed their mills in Abbotsford for lack of business. 2 Disease - Influenza 1918/19 Fatalities: 4,400 Injured: n/a # of Evacuees: n/a Estimated Costs: n/a Estimated Insurable Losses: n/a The “Spanish Flu” rapidly spread across Canada along the railway lines, arriving in Vancouver in October 1918. A second wave came in 1919. 3 Disease - Polio 1953/54 Fatalities: 643 Injured: n/a # of Evacuees: 0 Estimated Costs: n/a Estimated Insurable Losses: n/a Cross-Canada outbreak of Polio. 4 Drought 1984 Fatalities: n/a Injured: 0 # of Evacuees: 0 Estimated Costs: $1B Estimated Insurable Losses: n/a The drought in Western Canada, also affecting British Columbia, caused estimated losses of over $1 billion and affected 10,000 farms. 5 Drought 1931-1940 Fatalities: 0 Injured: 0 # of Evacuees: 0 Estimated Costs: n/a Estimated Insurable Losses: n/a During the Dirty Thirties drought plagued the Prairies and British Columbia 6 Flood - Snow Melt 2002/05 Fatalities: 0 Injured: 0 # of Evacuees: n/a Estimated Costs: $6.5M Estimated Insurable Losses: n/a High snow-pack levels, rapid melting and heavy rainfall caused