B.C. government commits $584 million to upgrade schools in high seismic areas

The British Columbia government has announced $584 million over three years to seismically upgrade 45 high-risk schools, as part of an ongoing program to address school buildings throughout the province that are in risk areas.

“This investment means parents sending their kids to 45 more high-risk schools know they will be able to withstand a major earthquake,” Premier Christy Clark said in a statement this week. 

The $584 million will be distributed over three years, and individual projects under the funding must receive final approval to proceed with designing and construction, after the school district confirms the scope, schedule, budget and risks for the project, the government noted.

The estimated funding over the three years is:

• 2013-14 – 10 new seismic projects at $111.8 million
• 2014-15 – 14 new seismic projects at $177 million
• 2015-16 – 21 new seismic projects at $295.4 million

The province has 37 school districts that are located in high seismic zones, according to the government. The funding announced this week  is part of the School Seismic Mitigation Program, an ongoing initiative that addresses all high-risk school buildings in the province.

With the 45 schools announced this week, 213 schools have now either been completed, are under construction or are proceeding to construction, or have been supported in some way by the program, the government said.

The program was launched in 2004 and is backed by engineers and geoscientists in B.C. who designed new guidelines for seismic safety, based on research on major earthquakes worldwide. In 2010, those experts conducted a reassessment to gain a more accurate picture of seismic safety in schools, the government said.

The guidelines from the B.C.-based experts have been reviewed by international experts in California and at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in the United States. The guidelines also earned the Canadian Society of Engineers Excellence in Innovation in Civil Engineering Award in 2010 and have helped shape FEMA’s own regional guidelines and policies, according to the B.C. government.

Since 2001, the B.C. government has spent or committed $2.2 billion to seismically upgrade or replace the 213 high-risk schools, and the government anticipates than another $600 million will be needed to address 102 more high-risk schools in the province.