North Shore Risk and Resilience Assessment

Client:

North Shore Emergency Management (NSEM)

Timing:

January 2019 to April 2024 (not continuous)

Location:

Metro Vancouver, British Columbia

Their challenge

The north shore communities of metro vancouver face a number of natural and anthropogenic hazards, from landslides and debris flows, to earthquake and liquefaction, to floods, to windstorms, as well as hazardous materials that travel through the port, rail, and road network. Many of these hazards are shifting with climate change.

This fabric of hazards is further complicated by diverse land cover, land uses, and development pressures. All managed by disparate government authorities.

NSEM recognized these challenges, and wanted to start by understanding the existing risk, and to push limits and explore resilience (i.e., what risk mitigation strategies and governance systems are in place and where the gaps are).

Our solution

The first step in reducing natural hazard risks is to understand them – literally priority one of the Sendai Framework. And so, working with project partners, we systematically explored the North Shore’s local hazards, exposure, vulnerabilities, risks, and resilience through a mix of technical data analyses, policy review, and participatory risk methods. This project is an example of boundary pushing research and methods:

This was the first science-driven participatory all hazards risk assessment completed in BC (2019), and reflects an approach that is now embedded in emergency planning best practice and legislation (e.g., BC EDMA)
We identified and pushed for extreme heat as a priority BEFORE the July 2021 heat dome; we trusted the science to limit recency and other biases.
We worked from risk through resilience looking at existing governance, data, and risk treatments across multiple jurisdictions; a true multi-disciplinary exercise reflecting and all of society approach to risk reduction.

Oh wow – where do I even start…I have so much gratitude for each and every one of you – the success of these past two days will have a deep and lasting impact on the team.

– Emily Dicken
Director, North Shore Emergency Management