FP fights for earthquake-proof schools in BC

Every day, Tracy Monk tackles the usual health issues of a family practice. When she takes off her stethoscope, though, her life-saving mission is even more daunting: Monk is determined to protect thousands of children from crumbling schools in BC's next earthquake.

Figure. Historic precedent: Dr. Tracy Monk is lobbying for seismic upgrading of BC schools. Photo by: Don MacKinnon

Older schools built of masonry are disproportionately less stable than other buildings. And since BC is in an earthquake zone, even a moderate tremor is a risk for up to 500 schools housing 30 000 children. A major quake would kill at least 290 people and injure 1000 in schools.

Monk's 9-year-old daughter began attending a masonry school last year, shortly after earthquakes struck Italy and Turkey. There, school buildings had collapsed while other buildings stood. Monk wondered why. She looked up a 1989 Vancouver school board report that predicted local schools — including her daughter's — would collapse at 100 times the rate of a wood frame house. “I wanted to throw up,” she recalls.

Monk's 150-member group, Families for School Seismic Safety (FSSS), is backed by provincial public health authorities and engineers. Seismic upgrading — basically reinforcing walls — is dirt cheap when cost is calculated per year of life saved, she says. For about $500 million, seismic upgrades “would protect generations of inhabitants.”

The group has had some success. Victoria and Ottawa agreed to fund a seismic risk assessment, and the recent BC budget committed some money, but not for another 2 years. Monk wants federal–provincial cooperation and funding to prevent a disaster.

Elsewhere, Long Beach, California, has already upgraded its schools, while Washington State will be finished upgrading in 4 years. At its current pace, BC schools won't become seismically safe for another 60 years. — Deborah Jones, Whistler, BC