Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.nunatsiaq.com/news/nunavik/80912_1524.html
September 12, 2008
Nunavik better prepared to cope with disasters
JANE GEORGE
Nunavik communities are better prepared than ever before to meet disasters such as floods, power blackouts and landslides, thanks to their new emergency plans.
About half of Nunavik's 14 municipalities have already completed their draft emergency plans and the others should follow soon, said Jo?l Ch?ruet, a consultant with the Kativik Regional Government's public security department.
Ch?ruet was a speaker at a three-day civil security symposium last month in Kuujjuaq, which also featured other experts in land and sea emergencies.
Ch?ruet, a certified emergency measures administrator, has provided training in emergency planning to about 80 municipal officials and staff in Nunavik over the past eight years.
"I am amazed how organized people are," he said in a recent telephone interview. "People are doing this very well."
A lot of progress has been made, he said, since an avalanche plowed into Kangiqsualujjuaq's school gym on Jan. 1, 1999, burying scores of people and killing nine.
Then, Nunavik was caught off guard.
Police, regional and municipal leaders and medical staff were trapped in Kuujjuaq due to a blizzard, wondering what to do, while Kangiqsualujjuamiut used their bare hands and shovels to rescue trapped friends and the community's two nurses struggled to help the injured.
The timing of the avalanche - at night, on a holiday - and the weather - stormy - couldn't have been worse for such a disaster to occur.
The lack of emergency plans didn't help, either, causing health workers in Kuujjuaq, who didn't inform their hospital director or other key health workers about the crisis in the neighbouring community, to lose precious time reaching the injured.
At the time, Michael Gordon, who was then the mayor of Kuujjuaq, slammed Nunavik's emergency planning as shortsighted.
"We have to have a plan," Gordon said. "Everything we've overlooked, we'll think about now."
Many recommendations from the coroner's inquest into the avalanche later confirmed Gordon's call for more emergency preparedness.
Quebec, driven to act after the 1998 ice storm crippled southern Quebec, granted municipalities the power to declare a local state of emergency in 2001.
Since then, Nunavik mayors and councillors, like municipal officials throughout in Quebec, have begun drafting emergency plans for their communities.
Even by Sept. 11, 2001, when air traffic was grounded following the terrorist attack on New York city emergency services in Kuujjuaq were more prepared to react to the emergency, scrambling to accommodate the possible arrival of Boeing 747s.
Police and firefighters in Kuujjuaq set up hundred of cots in the Forum arena in case planeloads of passengers arrived. They established an emergency centre at the airport and placed all medical staff at the Tulattavik Hospital on standby.
Possible disasters foreseen by Nunavik's emergency plans include floods, avalanches, hail, lightning, forest fires, fires, landslides, mine accidents, accidents involving dangerous goods, power blackouts, plane crashes, climate change impacts and pandemics.
Deciding who does what and when is the key, said Ch?ruet. With a well-structured plan, municipal leaders will know what to do during an emergency, even when they're faced with a situation they didn't think of.
"Because they have a structure that says who does what, if something happens, this structure will fall into place. If you don't have it, disorganization results," he said.
Some aspects of emergencies, such as communication with Quebec or the distribution of emergency supplies, will be easier for the KRG or other regional organizations to handle through their emergency plans. However, municipal officials and staff must keep their communities going no matter what, Ch?ruet said.
During a pandemic breakout of influenza or some other illness, Nunavik's health board has developed a plan to isolate the region from the South in an attempt to contain infection.
"The medical part is up to the health officials, but the mayor and the municipal councilors will have to keep their community going. What will they do if the water truck driver falls sick?"
Ch?ruet, who also planned to meet again with Nunavik mayors in Kuujjuaq, said he's encouraging municipal leaders to think long and hard about their emergency plans.
"Just making a plan to make a plan isn't good. The more they notice things and can take them into account, the better it will be," he said.
September 12, 2008
Nunavik better prepared to cope with disasters
JANE GEORGE
Nunavik communities are better prepared than ever before to meet disasters such as floods, power blackouts and landslides, thanks to their new emergency plans.
About half of Nunavik's 14 municipalities have already completed their draft emergency plans and the others should follow soon, said Jo?l Ch?ruet, a consultant with the Kativik Regional Government's public security department.
Ch?ruet was a speaker at a three-day civil security symposium last month in Kuujjuaq, which also featured other experts in land and sea emergencies.
Ch?ruet, a certified emergency measures administrator, has provided training in emergency planning to about 80 municipal officials and staff in Nunavik over the past eight years.
"I am amazed how organized people are," he said in a recent telephone interview. "People are doing this very well."
A lot of progress has been made, he said, since an avalanche plowed into Kangiqsualujjuaq's school gym on Jan. 1, 1999, burying scores of people and killing nine.
Then, Nunavik was caught off guard.
Police, regional and municipal leaders and medical staff were trapped in Kuujjuaq due to a blizzard, wondering what to do, while Kangiqsualujjuamiut used their bare hands and shovels to rescue trapped friends and the community's two nurses struggled to help the injured.
The timing of the avalanche - at night, on a holiday - and the weather - stormy - couldn't have been worse for such a disaster to occur.
The lack of emergency plans didn't help, either, causing health workers in Kuujjuaq, who didn't inform their hospital director or other key health workers about the crisis in the neighbouring community, to lose precious time reaching the injured.
At the time, Michael Gordon, who was then the mayor of Kuujjuaq, slammed Nunavik's emergency planning as shortsighted.
"We have to have a plan," Gordon said. "Everything we've overlooked, we'll think about now."
Many recommendations from the coroner's inquest into the avalanche later confirmed Gordon's call for more emergency preparedness.
Quebec, driven to act after the 1998 ice storm crippled southern Quebec, granted municipalities the power to declare a local state of emergency in 2001.
Since then, Nunavik mayors and councillors, like municipal officials throughout in Quebec, have begun drafting emergency plans for their communities.
Even by Sept. 11, 2001, when air traffic was grounded following the terrorist attack on New York city emergency services in Kuujjuaq were more prepared to react to the emergency, scrambling to accommodate the possible arrival of Boeing 747s.
Police and firefighters in Kuujjuaq set up hundred of cots in the Forum arena in case planeloads of passengers arrived. They established an emergency centre at the airport and placed all medical staff at the Tulattavik Hospital on standby.
Possible disasters foreseen by Nunavik's emergency plans include floods, avalanches, hail, lightning, forest fires, fires, landslides, mine accidents, accidents involving dangerous goods, power blackouts, plane crashes, climate change impacts and pandemics.
Deciding who does what and when is the key, said Ch?ruet. With a well-structured plan, municipal leaders will know what to do during an emergency, even when they're faced with a situation they didn't think of.
"Because they have a structure that says who does what, if something happens, this structure will fall into place. If you don't have it, disorganization results," he said.
Some aspects of emergencies, such as communication with Quebec or the distribution of emergency supplies, will be easier for the KRG or other regional organizations to handle through their emergency plans. However, municipal officials and staff must keep their communities going no matter what, Ch?ruet said.
During a pandemic breakout of influenza or some other illness, Nunavik's health board has developed a plan to isolate the region from the South in an attempt to contain infection.
"The medical part is up to the health officials, but the mayor and the municipal councilors will have to keep their community going. What will they do if the water truck driver falls sick?"
Ch?ruet, who also planned to meet again with Nunavik mayors in Kuujjuaq, said he's encouraging municipal leaders to think long and hard about their emergency plans.
"Just making a plan to make a plan isn't good. The more they notice things and can take them into account, the better it will be," he said.