Letter to the Vancouver Province Sept.4/05

If there is a lesson to be learned by the Hurricane Katrina's destruction in the southern gulf states, it's that the full, catastrophic effect of two decades of budget cuts are finally having an effect. First, and most obvious is the neglected infrastructure. For years, Civic, State, and Federal agencies had been warning that in the event of a powerful hurricane, the levees might not hold. For years politicians hemmed and hawed and pronounced that “levee mainenance and repair is a priority” however little to no resources were actually allocated. To me this sounds chillingly familiar to our own provincial and civic leader's announcements about Earthquake readiness. The communication network completely collapsed, police officers, and emergency services were not able to communicate with each other, it took days for the scope of the damage to become known.

Second, and ultimately far more deadly, was the erosion of the middle class, much more visible in the southern United States, than in Canada, but moving in the same path, especially under the leadership of neo-conservatives such as Gordon Campbell, Christy Clark, Ralph Klein et al. Many of the people who were left behind by the hurricane, were those disenfranchised by society, the homeless, the mentally ill, and the poor. Many of these people were simply unable to get out of the city, despite a mandatory evacuation notice, no resources were provided to let them evacuate.

The tax cuts, budget cuts, civil service cuts and social service cuts have created a recipe for disaster. For far too long we've seen government solely as a belwether for the economy, an organization that sets business regulations and tax rates. New Orleans has shown us that government is there to protect the people it represents, and without adequate planning and funding it simply cannot do that. Government has much more to do than simply attract new mining companies, and tourism opportunities. Government has an obligation, a duty, and a mandate to provide for nothing less than the survival of it's citizens. New Orleans has learned this lesson far too late.

The questions we have to ask ourselves in Vancouver, and across North America is “how prepared are our leaders?”. Is the emergency preparation in the case of a major earthquake (in Vancouver's case) beyond the pretty brochure stage, is practical planning and contingency preparation in place? Is there feasible plan to evacuate the city available?

For far too long we've looked at natural disasters as something that happen in the third world, Last week showed us that they can and will happen here, and that the effect is just as devastating.

Regards
Chris Childs