North Shore emergency plans for major quake inadequate — report A REPORT outlining 1990 objec- tives for the North And West Van- couver Emergency Program (NWVEP) concludes that in the event of a substantial earthquake, “major problems could ensue from the current lack of building assessment procedures and heavy rescue capability for the extrication of trapped victims from collapsed buildings and structures.” By MICHAEL BECKER News Reporter Said NWVEP coordinator Ross Peterson, ‘‘It’s a worry because we “‘We have had a few hard-rock miners phone up and offer their services,"’ he said, ‘*but we have to provide a certain amount of train- ing to our professional responders as well — fire, police and am- bulance — to know how to work as a team in this type of rescue work. We're really just starting in terms of finding where we can train people and finding peopie who wish to be trained.’’ While in San Francisco, Peter- son observed specialized teams working on the highway collapse. “They had a lot of people train- “If the collapse of a modern building...should occur, it might require very specialized cutting equipment to handle the materials.’’ —NWVEP coordinator Ross Peterson are very unsure of the resources. We are just starting to put our resource list together for machin- ery and equipment. But a bigger worry is our skilled manpower resource to operate that equipment or provide the kind of very specialized extrication talents that would be needed to tunnel and ex- tricate people from collapsed structures.”* Peterson’s trip to San Francisco following that city’s most recent destructive earthquake underlined the lack of a local emergency response mechanism to tackle the problem of collapsed structures in the event of a major disaster. ed to do this and they worked in combinations of paramedics, engineers, fire and police. It seem- ed to work quite well,’’ he said. Although modern design ap- plications and new building mate- rials should in theory result in fewer structural failures, there is a technology gap in terms of equip- ment available for extrication work at the scene of collapsed struc- tures. Said Peterson, ‘‘Building mate- tials now are much stronger than they were 20 years ago. If the col- lapse of a modern building, bridge or overpass should occur, it might require very specialized cutting Socreds hold NV nomination meeting THE NORTH Van- couver-Seymour Social Credit Par- ty will be holding a combined gen- eral and nominating meeting at the North Shore Winter Club 7 p.m., Wednesday, May 9. Party members will be electing a candidate to represent the B.C. Social Credit Party in the next election. To press time, the only can- didate to submit his name for nomination is incumbent North Vancouver-Seymour MLA _ Jack Davis, who is also the Minister of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources. If nominated, Davis will be run- ning against North Vancouver- Seymour New Democrat candidate Dr. Dominique Roelants. Roelants was selected to the rep- resent the riding in April. Roelants, who lives in Victcria, is a visiting professor of computing science at the University of Vic- toria. Hose Reel Fest returns HAUL OUT the rubber boots and roll out the hoses for the 1990 Hose Reel Festival, Saturday, May 12 at Mahon Park in North Van- couver. North Shore Firefighters are sponsoring a full day of events in- cluding a 10:30 a.m. parade, an 11 a.m. firefighter competition, all- day (to 5 p.m.) children’s activities and food and beverages. All money raised during the day benefits local community agencies. Last year North Shore Firefighters raised approximately $23,000 at the festival. The money was divided equally between the Lions Gate Hospital Foundation, the Vancouver Gen- eral Hospital burn ward and the North Shore Search and Rescue Society. A portion of the money is also used to stage the annual North Shore Firefighters Senior Girls’ Basketball Tournament. Community association forms NORTH VANCOUVER officially got another community association May 2. About 160 residents of the Keith-Lynn area met at Brooksbank School to form the Keith-Lynn/Brooksbank Com- munity Association. Concern for the disposition of wooded areas, identified by the district as parcels M and N and Salop Road on planning maps, led to the move. Residents would like to see the area remain wooded. The president of the new association is Simon Farrow, Mark Kavanagh is vice-president and Heather Maahs is secretary. A res- idents’ committee had previously prepared a questionnaire, with in- put from district planners, to determine the wishes of the resi- dents of approximately 750 homes in the area. The questionnaire is being distributed and results are expected to be tabulated within the next week. Mother's Day SPECIAL 10% off all Jewellery May 5-14 THE UEeNs DAL Q GALLERY: € 129 W. Esplanade St., 986-3222 equipment to handle the materials. Equipment that might have done the job 20 years ago, probably wouldn’t do the job today.”’ The annual NWVEP report also concluces that until complete emergency and disaster plans are in place, North Shore municipalities must depend on existing response capability to provide a ‘‘moderate level emergency response.”’ The emergency program iden- tifies hazard description and risk assessment as high priorities for this year. The work would include local seismic mapping and surveys to predict the structural response of buildings and utilities to ground movement. And the report notes that in- formation is needed for critical buildings such as Lions Gate Hos- pital, local firehalls, police sta- tions, municipal halls, reception centres, schools, health care facili- ties, chemical industrial facilities, as well as bridges, dams and reser- voirs, roads, railroads, and service lines such as water, sewer, natural gas, telephone and electrical. Last year the emergency pro- gram embarked on an ambitious drive to recruit and train volun- teers, primarily in emergency social services. There are currently more than 200 volunteers signed up. One third of those volunteers are train- ed and the emergency program is attempting to double the number of volunteers available and trained by the end of the year. The three municipalities recently reviewed the NWVEP report. The next step is formal adoption of the program’s 1990 objectives. Shop at home service only. & Open 7 days a week — 5 - Sunday, May 6, 1990 - North Shore News DENTURE SERVICE R. PALLAI & R. ANDERSON @ NEW DENTURES @ RELINES @ COMFORTABLE SOFT LINERS @ REPAIRS f FREE CONSULTATION Office Hours: Monday - Friday 9-5 Telephone $85-1710 105 - 140 West 15th Street, North Vancouver, B.C. V7M 1R6 save-on-blinds tess 50% tess 5% ofr WHEN YOU BUY UP TO 5 BLINDS tess 50% tess 10% orr WHEN YOU BUY OVER 5 BLINDS iP QuaLiTY AY WHOLESALE CES PRI Verticals — Over 300 Colours Horizontals — Over 100 Colours Nobody can beat our low prices!! save-on-blinds Call for a FREE ESTIMATE today 929-547’ ET for your convenience. From 9am to 9pm. oo en Mom Dav! Make Mom’s Day Sparkle ... Crystal ‘n’ Blooms Bouquet MOTHER’S DAY IS SUNDAY, MAY 13th! Spring Garden Bouquet : . et from $2995 Designer’s Worldwide Floral Delivery Choice ... Creative Bouquets from 83995 Thank Mom with Flowers! WAS VAN FLORIST LTD 1821 MARINE DRIVE, WEST VANCOUVER. B.C. V7V 1J7 922-4171 922-3968 FAX: 922-9735