Powell River – Sunshine Coast MLA Randene Neill has indicated that provincial funding for local evacuation planning projects means coastal communities will be better able to keep people safe and informed when emergencies occur.
"We live in a beautiful and very special part of the world, but being remote can also make emergency planning more complicated," stated Neill in a media release. "This funding will help make sure that our communities are prepared to notify and support people during an emergency evacuation."
In qathet region, the following communities are receiving funding: qathet Regional District – Updating evacuation route plans and the community’s public notification plan – $40,000; Tla’amin Nation – Update the evacuation route plan, which includes identification and capacity of available routes, collaboration, modes of transportation and methods of evacuation – $36,000.
The release stated that across BC, 51 communities are receiving approximately $2 million for 42 projects. This funding will support communities to develop and update their plans through public notification and evacuation route planning projects. Projects include mapping routes, improving evacuation and public notification plans, and running training exercises to test these plans before an emergency occurs, the release stated.
Since its launch in 2017, the province has invested $369 million in the Community Emergency Preparedness Fund (CEPF). Including this intake, the CEPF has supported approximately 2,600 projects.
Since 2017, the province has provided more than $6 million to support 183 projects through the public notification and evacuation route planning stream.
