Last year about this time you may remember the city had staff going door to door throughout the area considered in peril in the area below the Colliery Dams. The purpose was to make sure residents were aware of the peril they could be in if the dam should break.
All year long the Colliery Dams Saga has been in the press ad nauseam with press releases from the city and the Colliery Dam Parks Preservation Society and others.
So just in case someone has been living under a rock this past year, the city has found it necessary to implement the following:
- uniformed RCMP and Firefighters have gone door to door and hand delivered a five page instruction package advising of the potential danger and what to do if the worst should happen according to reports over 95% of all affected residents were personally spoken to.
- 40 - 50 signs have been erected in the flood hazard zone advising when you are entering and leaving the zone, and which way to go should you be fleeing for your life
- there are two public information sessions hosted at the Aquatic centre for two hours in the evening where city staff are available to answer questions
- School district hosted a public information meeting within the past few months at John Barsby school
- An evacuation siren has been installed and tested twice (low level testing) and will be tested once at full volume before the end of the month and once monthly from then on.
I realize that $2625 in the overall scheme of things could be classed as chump change, but if it were my money, after all the other effort I had expended, I would not consider a good use of money. But, then again, those making such decisions are never spending their money, are they?
It came as no surprise that Councillor Brennan did think it a good use of tax dollars.
What Next??
I am almost afraid to pose the following, for fear I will give the spending City Hall Juggernaut any new ideas, but I wonder what kind of warning program is being planned in light of the horrific outlook presented in the most recent insurance bureau study of the impact of a major earthquake on Nanaimo.
At the very least they will have to install Tsunami Zone entering, leaving, and how to get out of the way signs all along our considerable shoreline. Not to mention having the RCMP and Firefighters go door to door and advising all those living in the Tsunami danger zone of the grave peril they too could be exposed to in the event of a major seismic event.
How about a warning sign at the entrances to the city: "Get Ready to be Hosed!"
ReplyDeleteExactly!!
DeleteOh boy, can't wait to see this commercial.
ReplyDeleteI wonder who they got to play the concerned citizens living near the dams? Only know of one actual resident that bought in to the hype, or maybe he just wanted to be on TV.
Did you hear? The School District is recomending emergency flood kits for students attending Barsby including snorkels and flippers for the short kids or rubber boots if you are over 1 foot tall.
And gee thanks for increasing my insurance rates!!! Big insurance just wringing their hands with joy.
ReplyDeleteThose dams are re-bar enforced. There is proof. Nothing's going to shake them. However, if I were one of those residents whose house sat atop a mine shaft--and there are many MANY of those--I would be practicing my emergency preparedness. If this earthquake that the City is freaking out about ever happened (this over-the-top-hysteria is embarrassing and is fear-mongering at its worst), those are the people who would need the most help, not the people living around the dams. Those dams are just puddles. Time to get a grip. Let's remediate the dams and replace the incompetents at City Hall.
ReplyDelete