qathet Regional District’s (qRD) finance committee is recommending that the regional board endorse an application for community emergency preparedness.
At the April 8 finance committee meeting, directors considered a report recommending the board approve application for a $40,000 grant to the 2025 community emergency preparedness fund (CEPF) public notification and evacuation route planning, administered by the Union of British Columbia Municipalities.
According to a staff report, the public notification and evacuation route planning fund is intended to support development of new or updated community evacuation route plans and new or updated community alerting plans.
The report stated that qRD first accessed CEPF evacuation route funding in 2018. The funding allowed qRD to contract services of the evacuation planning assistant, leading to the series of engagements and workshops with community members and agencies across the region, and led to the development in 2020 of qRD's first community evacuation plans and community evacuation guidance material.
The review, maintenance, updating and public engagement regarding community evacuation plans is an ongoing process, the report stated. If the grant application is successful, the 2025 CEPF public notification and evacuation route planning fund will provide qRD with $40,000 of provincial funding to review and update evacuation plans for all areas of the regional district, including City of Powell River.
Staff intend to use the funding to contract services of the evacuation planning assistant to engage with community members, relevant agencies and regional emergency operations centre staff to ensure plans are current and understood by all parties, according to the report.
Community notification plans for impending emergency events are an important aspect to any community evacuation plan, the report stated. qRD provides a community notification system residents can register with to receive important information via email, phone, or text message. The work to maintain and update plans and training for use of the system is an ongoing effort. Staff intend to use some of the grant funding to review community notification plans for all qRD areas, to coordinate these plans with Tla'amin Nation and the city, and to ensure public awareness of notification plans, according to the report.
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