MITIGATION SYMPOSIUM: Towards A Canadian National Mitigation Strategy
Comprehensive
Symposium Proceedings
January 1998
In
Emergency Preparedness Protection civille
Canada Canada
Contents
CONTENTS
THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v
FOREWORD vi
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY vii
Approach vii
Findings and Resulting Action Items vii
Conclusion viii
APPROACH 1
Introduction 1
Aim of the Symposium 1
Objectives 1
Outcome of the Symposium 2
Preparation 2
Working Definitions for the Symposium 3
Process for Participation 4
FINDINGS AND RESULTING ACTION ITEMS 6
Building Safer Communities - Sustainability Issues 6
Building Safer Communities - The Role of the Insurance Industry 7
Developing Public ParticipAction 8
Encouraging Government and Industry Action 9
Establishing Partnerships 9
Presentation from FEMA, United States of America (Richard Krimm) 10
Presentation from EMA, Australia (John Salter and Jonathan Abrahams) 10
Refinement of Definitions 11
Consolidation of Findings and Resulting Action Items 12
1. Merits of a National Mitigation Strategy 12
2. Scope and Content for a National Mitigation Strategy 13
3. Recommended Tactics that could be included in a National Mitigation Strategy/ 13
4. Process for Designing a National Mitigation Strategy 14
CONCLUSION 16
ii Contents
APPENDICES
APPENDIX A - PARTICIPANTS 19
Participant Roles 21
Symposium Participants 21
Coordinators 26
Facilitators 26
Observers 27
Recorders 27
APPENDIX B - QPIs (Questions, Problems and Issues) 29
Overview 31
QPI Categories 31
QPIs for the Mitigation Symposium 32
APPENDIX C - SYMPOSIUM AGENDA 35
APPENDIX D - PARTICIPANTS' BACKGROUND DOCUMENT 39
APPENDIX E - COLLECTION OF RESPONSES TO QPIs 47
Building Safer Communities 49
Developing Public Participaction 89
Enhancing Government And Industry Action 99
Establishing Partnerships 131
General Comments 153
APPENDIX F - FINDINGS FROM THE MITIGATION SYMPOSIUM WORKING
SESSIONS 185
Introduction 187
Session la: Building Safer Communities - Sustainability Issues 189
Focus Group 1 189
Focus Group 2 192
Focus Group 3 194
Focus Group 4 197
Contents iii
APPENDIX F - (CONT'D)
Session lb: Building Safer Communities - Insurance Issues 200
Focus Group 1 200
Focus Group 2 202
Focus Group 3 204
Focus Group 4 206
Session 2: Developing Public Participaction 208
Focus Group 1 208
Focus Group 2 210
Focus Group 3 213
Focus Group 4 216
Session 3: Encouraging Government & Industry Action 219
Focus Group 1 219
Focus Group 2 221
Focus Group 3 223
Focus Group 4 225
Session 4: Establishing Partnerships 228
Focus Group 1 228
Focus Group 2 230
Focus Group 3 233
Focus Group 4 236
Session 5: Recommendations for Canada's Mitigation Strategy 238
Focus Group 1 238
Focus Group 2 241
Focus Group 3 243
Focus Group 4 247
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THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Mitigation Symposium was an exciting and challenging project. It is not often that one has the opportunity to bring together experts from across Canada, the United States and Australia to spend two days locked in discussion, debate, and consensus building.
The participants agreed to a full schedule and because of their dedication and willingness to be totally involved in all discussions, the results and recommendations will be very useful for future planning of a Canadian Strategy for Mitigation. I thank them for their dedication and appreciate the contribution they and their organizations have made to this important project.
I would like to thank the representatives from the sponsoring agencies Mike Braham and Chris Tucker from Emergency Preparedness Canada and Grant Kelly from the Insurance Bureau of Canada. They were willing to risk using an unusual symposium format to focus on an important Canadian issue and to be participants in the process.
Pamela Hollington, project coordinator, and Elizabeth Zook, research manager, expertly handled the symposium coordination. Their efforts are reflected in the success of the symposium and I thank them for making the project a success.
I would also like to thank the facilitators, observers, and recorders for their contributions in monitoring, reporting, and encouraging discussion within each focus group. They were instrumental in the accuracy of the results of the symposium. The facilitators were: Mike Braham, John Oakley, Laurie Pearce and Ross Peterson. The observers were Roberto Gonzalez, Tony Heemskerk, Larry Pearce and Bill White. The recorders, who took detailed notes of all focus group discussions, were Lisa Bhopalsingh, Stephen Billington, Barbara Mugabe and Shaugn Schwartz.
Special thanks are extended to Dick Krimm of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency and to Jonathan Abrahams and John Salter of Emergency Management Australia for sharing some of their insights and successes in developing a mitigation strategy in their countries.
M. Wayne Greene
Director, Disaster Preparedness Resources Centre
University of British Columbia
vi Mitigation Symposium: Towards a Canadian National Mitigation Strategy
FOREWORD
Recent natural disasters in North America and their devastating impact require that we take action and reduce the spiraling costs of recovery. Canadian activities and legislation have focused on preparedness and response. As a result these components are well studied and developed, and many communities have successfully implemented effective programs. On the other hand, the components of recovery, especially reconstruction, and mitigation have not been fully developed. This is due in part to the perceived complexity, lack of process direction, and the overwhelming potential costs associated with recovery and mitigation. However, the participants believe that the impact of hazards can be significantly reduced by applying the knowledge we already have to the formulation of a National Mitigation Strategy. With such a strategy, we can save needless loss of property and lives.
The title "Mitigation Symposium: Towards a Canadian National Mitigation Strategy," reflects the intent of this project. The Mitigation Symposium was sponsored by Emergency Preparedness Canada (EPC) and the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) and involved the combined efforts of Canadian participants. The project team worked on an aggressive timeline to bring together diverse skill sets and to formulate a set of recommendations that would allow the joint sponsors to take the results forward and to promote action on the development of a National Mitigation Strategy for Canada.
Participants representing industry, academia, government and non-government organizations from across Canada participated in the symposium to assist with the development of a set of recommendations for the design, development, and implementation of a National Mitigation Strategy for Canada. The participants also included representatives from the United States (FEMA-Federal Emergency Management Agency) and Australia (EMA-Emergency Management Australia) who shared their processes, results, and lessons learned with the group.
It was not the intent of the symposium to develop a blueprint for a National Mitigation Strategy; such a goal would be premature at this time. Rather, the mission of the program was to gather support for, and ideas surrounding, how best to move forward with the design, development, and implementation of a National Mitigation Strategy for Canada (thus, the word "towards" was consciously used within the title).
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This document represents the combined efforts of many participants as a result of the joint sponsorship of Emergency Preparedness Canada (EPC) and the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC).
Approach
The approach for the symposium was to have each participant submit a series of written responses to some specific questions, problems, and issues (QPIs) related to the concept of mitigation in general, and to the introduction of a National Mitigation Strategy in Canada. These papers were submitted in advance of a two-day working session, held in November in Vancouver at the University of British Columbia. The two-day session included a series of breakout sessions where participants were asked to discuss specific topics resulting from the submitted papers and to develop consensus on as many recommendations as possible within the timeframe.
Findings and Resulting Action Items
The symposium participants identified many ideas and recommendations that are relevant to the design, development, and implementation of a National Mitigation Strategy. The lessons learned from our colleagues in the United States and Australia helped to guide some of the discussion and the formulation of action items and recommendations. These results were grouped under the following categories:
• Merits
• Scope and Content
• Recommended Tactics
• Design Process
The "action items" that were developed can be taken forward for immediate action by industry, educational institutes, communities, and governments at the provincial, regional, territorial and local levels. However, in order to formulate a coordinated and truly national effort, some prerequisites are required. These include the need to identify one or more champions for the process and to get mitigation on the political agenda. Thus, the participants developed a "concluding recommendation" that will initiate action on the work from the symposium and provide momentum for moving towards a Canadian National Mitigation Strategy.
viii Mitigation Symposium: Towards a Canadian National Mitigation Strategy
Conclusion
The symposium participants are eager to see movement on the design, development, and implementation of a National Mitigation Strategy for Canada and clearly demonstrated a strong support for the need for, and a willingness to participate in, its implementation. They also recognize that federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments must work in partnership on mitigation both among themselves and with non-government organizations, academia, industry and industry associations, communities and individuals.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada has stated that they will be moving forward with their plans to create the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, which will be the focal point for the insurance industry's efforts regarding loss mitigation. This is a good first step.
In closing the symposium, Wayne Greene provided a quote from Marie Curie to emphasize the tremendous results we had gained over the two-day workshop and to reflect on the work that lies ahead for designing, developing, and implementing a national mitigation strategy:
/ was taught that the way of progress is neither swift nor easy.
With this in mind, and considering the need for immediate action, the symposium participants agreed to clearly define their concluding recommendation, as follows:
It is recommended that Emergency Preparedness Canada (EPC) take the concepts, principles, scope and process as recommended by this symposium to the next federal/provincial senior officials conference in early 1998 for their consideration, action, and recommendation.
Comprehensive Symposium Proceedings
APPROACH
This section represents the "charge to participants" and includes the aim, objectives, and approach provided to all participants in advance of the symposium.
Introduction
Emergency Preparedness Canada (EPC) and the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) jointly sponsored the Mitigation Symposium, which was coordinated and conducted through the Disaster Preparedness Resources Centre (DPRC) at the University of British Columbia.
Aim of the Symposium
Recent natural disasters in North America and their devastating impact require that we take action and reduce the spiraling costs of recovery. Canadian activities and legislation have focused on preparedness and response. As a result these components are well studied and developed and many communities have successfully implemented effective programs. On the other hand, the components of recovery, especially reconstruction and mitigation, have not been fully developed. This is due in part to the perceived complexity, lack of process direction, and the overwhelming potential costs associated with recovery and mitigation.
To address the need for a focus on a mitigation strategy in Canada, the aim of the symposium was developed in consultation with the sponsors and was:
To present recommendations for the design, development and implementation of a National Mitigation Strategy.
Objectives
The objectives, therefore, flowed from the aim and were summarized as follows:
• To develop working definitions for "disaster" and for the "disaster management process"
which embody the importance of mitigation;
• To develop a useable definition for "mitigation" and a list of general criteria to be used
in evaluating mitigation programs; and,
Mitigation Symposium: Towards a Canadian National Mitigation Strategy
• To present a conceptual framework for consideration of mitigation strategies within the context of:
1. eliminating the hazard;
2. reducing the risk of a hazardous event taking place;
3. reducing the consequences of a hazardous event; and,
4. spreading the risk.
Outcome of the Symposium
The outcome of the symposium was intended to be a clear set of recommendations that will form the foundation for the introduction of a National Mitigation Strategy in Canada.
A project steering committee was formed and a project coordinator assigned to manage the project activities and to facilitate the symposium sessions.
Preparation
The project steering committee met to develop an approach to the symposium that would meet the requirements and objectives of the joint sponsors.
The approach that was identified was a combination of individual contributions and focus group sessions. Over a series of meetings, a number of questions, problems and issues (QPIs) related to the design, development, and implementation of a National Mitigation Strategy were identified. These were circulated to the joint sponsors for their review and approval. The confirmed QPIs (see Appendix B) were refined into a manageable list of 20 and were grouped into four broad categories:
1. Developing Safer Communities
Identify and promote cost-effective approaches so new structures can be built safely, existing structures retrofitted to better withstand future catastrophes, and so that communities are resilient before, during and after disasters. Consider sustainability and the notion of the "healthy community."
2. Establish Working Partnerships
Provide a forum for concerned allies (government, industry, NGO and professional and community organizations and associations) to work together to reduce the human and financial cost of disasters. Encourage widespread, active participation in such partnerships to support mitigation activities.
Comprehensive Symposium Proceedings
3. Enhance Industry and Government Action
Promote action within private industry and government towards effective disaster risk management practices through targeted research and dissemination of information and provide encouragement to turn such lessons into action.