Be it terrorist attack, tornado or earthquake, Ottawa is taking measures to prepare for worst-case scenarios, says a senior planner with the city.
For the last three years, Ottawa has increased its supply of emergency equipment as part of its emergency preparedness program. The goal is to have a 68-person urban search-and-rescue team trained and ready to sift through rubble of collapsed buildings by the year 2010, says John Ash, Ottawa office of emergency management manager.
The most recent addition to the city’s emergency preparedness program came Oct. 22 when city council approved $75,000 to purchase equipment that would help city workers rescue people from collapsed buildings. The money will be matched by a $225,000 grant from Public Safety Canada.
“With any event, whether Sept. 11, or Katrina, or the London bombings, we always see what the results of the events are and see what the probability is in our area,” Ash says.
Though a hurricane or tsunami in Ottawa is impossible, other natural disasters are more likely.
In February 2006, two small earthquakes shook the Ottawa region. No injuries or major damage were reported. But, Ottawa is located in the western Quebec seismic zone, where between 100 and 150 earthquakes happen each year in the area from Ottawa to western Quebec and upstate New York, says Natural Resources Canada seismologist Stephen Halchuck.
Though Halchuck says most of the earthquakes in the region are too small to feel, in 1944 a larger earthquake near Cornwall toppled buildings.
“This area has produced some larger, damaging earthquakes. Though, we certainly don’t have the concern they have on the West Coast,” Halchuck says, noting there is a larger earthquake in this region every 150 to 500 years.
The city will also choose and train a team of men and women to operate the emergency equipment. Starting next year, the city hopes to have a smaller urban search and rescue team and then work its way up to the 68-member team, Ash says.
“We’re looking at people that may have the training already,” Ash says, noting the team would likely include firefighters, police officers and city engineers.
Ash says he does not know of an Ottawa incident in recent history requiring an urban search-and- rescue team, but a team could have been used in October 2007 when the historic Somerset House partially collapsed and a construction worker was trapped inside.
Some of the new equipment will include basics such as helmets harnesses and braces to prevent further collapse of a damaged building.
More high-tech equipment will include sensors to find people buried in debris and cameras with microphones and lights, allowing rescuers to see into small, dark spaces, Ash says.
The equipment is stored in containers at various fire stations in the city. Ash says an entire container can be loaded onto a truck, according to what is needed.
In January, Ash made headlines when he stood before the Senate committee on national security and defence and said the City of Ottawa needed more co-operation from the federal government in order to properly prepare for an emergency.
Since then, the city has met with the Privy Council Office, but still needs a co-ordinated plan with the Ministry of Public Safety, Ash says.
“Where our gap is, is working with the federal government,” he says.