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November 29, 2006 – FSSS Update Download PDF file. |
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April 10, 2006 – FSSS introduces the Classroom Bucket Project See details. |
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November 11, 2005 – FSSS Update Download PDF file. |
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October 8, 2005 – FSSS News Release Regarding Asian Earthquake: Download PDF file. |
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May 29, 2005 – VSB Individual School Seismic Assessments: Seismic information for individual schools in Vancouver is available here. |
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March 6, 2005 – Write letters: FSSS encourages parents from all areas of the province to write letters to the federal and provincial governments. (Click here for a bilingual English/Chinese form letter you can distribute at your school). FSSS welcomes the provincial commitment to spend 1.5 billion over 15 years to see all BC schools brought up to acceptable life safety standards. We need binding legislation to ensure that this commitment endures for the long term. We would like the federal government to follow through on promises made during the election to assist in seeing this work carried out. With federal assistance, the time frame of this work could be reduced to 10 years. BCCPAC is also encouraging parents to write letters: click here to see last FSSS update. |
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March 6, 2005 – Report on UN world conference of disaster reduction January 2005, Kobe Japan: FSSS Director Dr. Tracy Monk co-presented an address entitled “Prioritizing Schools and Hospitals: Good Intentions but Miles to Go” at the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan, January 18-22, 2005. The Kobe conference adopted the Hyogo Declaration, which states that “governments are primarily responsible for the protection of their people's lives and property.” The conference also reached agreement on a “framework for action” which will serve as a guideline for the next 10 years. On the subject of schools: The UN world conference led to the creation of a partnership of government, UN agencies and specialized academic institutions to form “A Coalition on Education” led by UNESCO which will take the lead to incorporate disaster reduction education into school programs and to make school buildings safer. Dr. Monk had the opportunity to discuss the issue of BC school seismic safety with many members of the international community who expressed astonishment that Canada does not consider school buildings as critical infrastructure. In her presentation at a thematic session at the UN conference, Dr. Monk noted that the provincial government had made a commitment to upgrade schools within 15 years, and noted that the federal government had yet to deliver on election promises to participate in the school mitigation program. She hoped the federal government would be stepping up to the plate soon, both locally, to protect school children at risk, and globally, by joining the UNESCO effort. While in Kobe, Dr. Monk also spoke at a parallel hazard mitigation conference (International Symposium on Earthquake Engineering) where she presented a paper entitled, “The Importance of Community Involvement on the Road to School Seismic Safety In BC: The Obstacles and Circumventing Them.” This paper documents the progress made by FSSS and the challenges we’ve faced along the way. She will be making a similar presentation on public policy at the Seismological Society of America’s meeting in April. (Click here to see abstract)
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November 8, 2004 – Ministry of Education posted the results of the school seismic assessment.There are approx 1,500 schools in the province. 800 schools are within the zone of risk and these were assessed. 312 of the schools assessed were thought to be at high risk of sustaining severe damage to structural elements in the event of a moderate to strong earthquake. The full results of the assessment can be viewed at: www.bced.gov.bc.ca/news/edufacts An interesting point of contrast: FSSS obtained information from a freedom of information request which revealed that BC Building Corp carried out a seismic assessment of its inventory in 1997. Six of 235 buildings were found to be at high risk. Two have since been sold. |
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November 6, 2004 – Premier Gordon Campbell announced a $1.5 billion commitment to completing school seismic upgrades within 15 years. FSSS’ Response: The Premier's announced 15-year timeline for completing seismic upgrades to all at-risk BC schools is wonderful news to concerned families and citizens around the province. At the current pace, it will take 60 years to complete necessary seismic upgrades. The Premier's 15-year commitment will require great effort from school boards and the provincial government. We look forward to hearing details of how the government intends to ensure that we are at the finish line by 2019 and ensure that this work does not ebb and flow with the political tides of government and school boards. We trust that they will put safeguards in place to ensure that subsequent governments cannot slacken the pace. Parents and students have been lobbying government to speed up the pace of this work for over a decade. FSSS has been asking for a 10-15 year time line for the past one and a half years. With completion slated for 2008, Seattle will have done the job in 12 years. November 6, 2004, is time zero. By November 6, 2019, all BC schools should meet acceptable life safety standards. We continue to emphasize that this work must in no way compete for the
same funds as the rest of education budget — it is a safety issue, not
an education issue. |
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October 28, 2004 –
to view the Vancouver School Board's memo of October 22, 2004 regarding seismic assessments of Vancouver schools.
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August 3, 2004 World Experts call for Action on Seismic Risk to School Children – The OECD ( Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) in conjunction with GeoHazards International held a news conference in Vancouver during the World Conference of Earthquake Engineering. The press conference generated front page headlines and an editorial in the Vancouver Sun and extensive media coverage on CKNW and CBC as well as a story on the National. The story was also published in the Ottawa Citizen and went around the globe on AFP wire services. (See In The News page for details) Schoolchildren in many countries face unacceptable risks of injury and loss of life due to inadequate design and construction of school buildings which can collapse or sustain serious damage during earthquakes, according to 30 world-renowned experts brought together by the OECD and U.S.-based non-profit organisation GeoHazards International. A new OECD publication sets out the problem and makes recommendations for improving earthquake safety in schools. Tragedies occur because available technology is not applied and existing laws and regulations are not sufficiently enforced, Keeping Schools Safe in Earthquakes finds. The design and construction of schools could be improved quickly and at reasonable cost to significantly lower the seismic risk to schools and help prevent further injury and death. Brian Tucker of GeoHazards International conducted research in Nepal before they began upgrading schools there. They asked the citizens if they would spend their own money to prevent earthquake collapse of government buildings, or temples or their own homes – they said no to all 3. But when asked if they would spend their own money to be sure the village school didn’t collapse – the answer was an overwhelming yes.
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June 28, 2004 Federal Election – FSSS managed to get the school seismic issue on the political radar for the federal election. Parents in many districts attended all-candidate’s meetings and asked the “seismic question”. We also managed to send a lot of e-mail to a lot of candidates and forced everyone to develop a position on the issue. Our point that this is really not an educational issue, but rather a safety, infrastructure and most importantly a human rights issue – appears to have been accepted by many candidates. Federal candidates have congratulated us for making so much noise on this issue. Many noted that we have really moved this issue up the agenda. Several candidates who made strong statements backing FSSS and acknowledging a role for the federal government in solving this issue were elected. Those who have advocated strongly for FSSS and have been elected are the following: Stephen Owen, Libby Davies, David Emerson, David Anderson, Ujjal Dosanjh and Hedy Fry. Click here to see some of the statements made in support of FSSS by some of these candidates.
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June 11, 2004 -120 structural engineers across the province attended a training session run by APEG BC (Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists). The engineers were trained in a standardized method for assessing schools and costing retrofits. With standardized data collection, it will now be possible to create a master provincial list and fund this work according to risk. The engineering community will be provided with 2 assessment tools, UBC-21 and UBC-100 (a performance-based tool under development). Engineers who attended the seminar noted that there was a great sense of enthusiasm about the tools to be used for the assessment and relief that the first steps are being taken to address this issue. The Ministry of Education intends to complete the assessment of 700 schools by October. Thanks to the terrific turn out of engineers who have long felt a deep concern about this issue, it looks like the Ministry may be able to keep its promise to complete the review by Oct 2004.
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June 2, 2004 – Premier Campbell and Minister Christensen announced $89 million in new funding for seismic improvements at 11 schools, to help ensure facilities are safe during earthquakes. The announcement was attended by FSSS directors: Eugene Hodgson, Nathan Lusignan and Tracy Monk FSSS Director Dr. Tracy Monk was invited by government to speak at this announcement and both the Premier and Minister Christensen thanked her and FSSS for all the work they have done on behalf of the children of the province around this issue. Dr. Monk thanked the government for all that they are doing but noted that parents would like to see the upgrades completed faster and more funding rolled forward to 2005 as well as federal participation in the upgrade work. She re-iterated that the basic human rights of the physical safety and education of children should not be competing for the same scarce funding. What the announcement boils down to is about $240 million/year in total school capital provincial funding which remains low in comparison with 1998/99's $411 million, 1999/2000's $512 million or 2000/01's $450 million. Although there are some funding commitments for seismic work in 2005, the bulk begins in 2006, after the next election. As parents and citizens we must continue to stress that this is unacceptable. Once the results of the review are in hand in October, large scale work to repair all schools deemed at risk must begin in 2005. FSSS continues to press for a dedicated funding stream for this work from outside the Education Ministry. Long term funding commitments must be made by two levels of government to ensure that a pace is maintained that will protect students in all BC schools within a decade.
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May 28, 2004 – Minister Tom Christensen announced $2 million in funding for a comprehensive seismic assessment of all 800 schools in BC’s zone of risk. The review is to be completed by October 2004. Existing information is to be collated, updated and standardized incorporating recent advances in soil mechanics. FSSS applauds Minister Christensen for taking this important first step. We realize that a 10 year pace to repair all schools at risk cannot be set unless we have a grasp on the magnitude of the problem on day 1. We must be able to compare one district to the next and funding must be allocated according to risk, rather than on a political basis. A centralized and standardized risk assessment is necessary for a scientific and objective solution to prevail that will not wax and wane with the tides of government and school boards. While FSSS applauds this important first step, we think it is essential that the major work of upgrading buildings begins immediately in 2005 once the results of the review are in hand.
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May 14, 2004 – Mayor Larry Campbell and MP Stephen Owen opened a Seismic Play and Festival at Gladstone Secondary on Friday May 14.
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April 26, 2004 - School Seismic on the world stage: The OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) recently held a conference to address the issue of seismic safety in schools and make recommendations to member nations. We would like to highlight two of their many key recommendations:
The OECD experts put it beautifully when they stated: “The motivation for school seismic safety is much broader than the universal human instinct to protect and love children. The education of children is essential to maintaining free societies, the social and economic progress of nations, and the welfare of individuals and their families. As a result, most nations make education compulsory. However, a state requirement for compulsory education, while allowing the continued use of seismically unsafe buildings, is an inconsistent and unjustifiable practice. The school seismic safety initiative recommended herein is based on the premise that the very future of society is dependent upon the safety of the children of the world.”
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April 14, 2004 - VSB committee 2 meeting - Earthshaking progress on the seismic front. The Ministry of Education has released the attached timelines for work on the seismic issue over the next 15 months and has struck a Seismic Mitigation Program Development Advisory Committee. Members of the committee include Dr. Carlos Ventura (UBC director of earthquake engineering research facility) and John Robertson (Chief Building Inspector of the City of Vancouver). Citizens must keep government’s feet to the fire and make sure that they carry through. Click to see and |
April 8, 2004 -
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Mar 14, 2004 - Minister Stephen Owen discusses FSSS in his constituency report March 14, 2004. to see his comments if you have a high speed connection (the file is 57 megabytes).
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Feb 26, 2004 -
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Feb 22, 2004 - On Feb 11th, 2004, FSSS Directors Tracy Monk, Eugene Hodgson and Nathan Lusignan met with Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell. The Mayor expressed his strong support for our position. Mr. Campbell stated that he would help us to advocate to senior levels of government on behalf of our children. He agreed to speak to Mike Harcourt (Chair of the Federal Committee on Municipal Funding), Federal Ministers Owen and Anderson and Provincial Minister of Education Christensen. He was keen to pursue tagged funding for this work from the Federal Government as part of their National Disaster Mitigation Strategy. We look forward to hearing back from the Mayor soon on the outcome of his discussions.
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Dec 15, 2003 - Tracy Monk, Eugene Hodgson and Nathan Lusignan met with Federal Minister Stephen Owen in his first meeting as Minister of Public Works. The meeting went extremely well. The minister committed to funding the research arm of the APEG proposal in January. He also stated the willingness of the federal government to commit a variety of funding to solving the urgent problem of school seismic safety. (Click here to see press release) (Click here to see APEG press release)
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Dec 11, 2003 - Andy Mill (Head of the
Seismic Task Force of APEG) and Dr. Carlos Ventura (UBC professor of
civil engineering and director of the earthquake engineering research facility)
have prepared a series of questions and answers about the APEG
proposal to government: (click
here to read APEG Q and A) |
Dec 03, 2003 - Tracy Monk addressed
Vancouver School Board Committee 2 on December 2. She raised the issue of
the implications of the closure of a school in White Rock for the Vancouver
School District and others. She presented a letter to Superintendent Chris
Kelly and Chair of the Board of Trustees Adrienne Montani. (click
here to view letter) |
Nov 27, 2003 - APEG (Association of Professional Engineers and
Geoscientists) submitted a proposal to the federal and provincial governments
to create a standardized and peer-reviewed method for assessing and addressing
seismic risk to the school buildings of the province. This submission
was the culmination of discussions with Provincial Minister Christy
Clark and Federal Minister Stephen Owen, which began in September. FSSS
supports the APEG proposal to government. We believe that the expert community of
engineers is in the best position to define and peer-review the most
timely and cost-effective method for dealing with this problem -
much like having the Cancer Agency define the best method for treating
cancer. They have proposed that all school buildings in the Province
be assessed in a standardized manner and a master list of all schools,
with a life safety risk index, be be created. FSSS sees this
as a way to get the politics out of solving this problem so that an objective
and scientific solution can prevail - this work should not be handed
out to districts as political favors, the life-safety of children is not
a perk , it is a priority above all others.
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Nov 21, 2003 - Surrey School District closed 2 buildings of White Rock Elementary after receiving an engineering report that the buildings were structurally deficient to resist an earthquake. (click here to see Surrey School District press release) FSSS applauds this decision and hopes that this increases pressure on government to rapidly assess and address seismic risk to the 100's of other schools across the province which may not meet acceptable seismic life-safety criteria.
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