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Integrated Partnership for Regional Emergency Management
One only has to think about the recent 8.9 magnitude earthquake that devastated the coastal city of Sendai, Japan, to recognise the importance of a regional emergency management program for a metropolitan area such as Metro Vancouver. Fortunately, in 2009 a new intergovernmental entity (IPREM -- Integrated Partnership for Regional Emergency Management in Metro Vancouver) was established between the Province of BC and Metro Vancouver to improve emergency management across the region. The purpose of IPREM is to create a disaster-resilient region where key stakeholders and all levels of government, including municipalities, work together seamlessly through:
Continued and increased regional and provincial cooperation and stakeholder engagement;
Identification of regional planning priorities and collaborative development of initiatives that encompass the four (4) pillars of emergency management (preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation);
Coordination of regional and sub-regional emergency planning for major events that cross jurisdictional boundaries or may have a regional impact; and
Building a more resilient sustainable future for the region.
What does IPREM do?
Provides a framework to collaborate on emergency planning at a regional level;
Leverages opportunities for joint planning and project implementation;
Identifies and proposes options to resolve complex regional emergency management issues;
Shares best practices and experiences with emergency management groups outside the region.
What are IPREM's key areas of focus?
- Regional Operations:
- Utilizing an integrated team of local, regional, provincial and other stakeholder agencies (including private sector), develop an all hazard, integrated framework for coordinating regional emergency events in Metro Vancouver.
- Establish a regional concept of operations for emergency events that either cross jurisdictional boundaries or may have a regional impact.
- Emergency Communications:
- Establish a strategic plan and governance framework to support interoperable communications (voice and data) aimed at expediting the exchange of communications and information between emergency response agencies and Emergency Operations Centres.
- Develop a structure for the planning, implementation and ongoing support for sharing communications and information during regional emergency events.
- Regional All-Hazard Risk Assessment:
- Establish a comprehensive understanding of potential hazards and risks that either cross jurisdictional boundaries or may have a regional impact.
- Based on an all hazard approach, conduct a regional hazard risk assessment, identifying priority hazards, regional response and recovery capabilities, and areas of vulnerability.
- Critical Infrastructure Assurance:
- Develop and implement a Critical Infrastructure Assurance Plan from a regional perspective.
- Champion and support regional public safety initiatives aimed at protecting and supporting critical infrastructure assets across the region.
- Disaster Response Routes (DRR's):
- DRR's are comprised of an integrated multi-modal transportation network of air, rail, road and marine transportation corridors and support facilities, intended to expedite the movement of emergency personnel and resources during significant local or regional emergency events.
- IPREM's DRR work is now being transitioned into a broader concept of Integrated Network for Emergency Transportation (iNET) that is being initiated by the Province.
- Disaster Debris Management:
- Major emergencies can create massive amounts of debris, emphasizing the need for a coordinated plan to handle, store and dispose of debris from across the region.
- Develop an ongoing disaster Debris Management Program (including training and exercises) to address debris requirements based on scope and scale of the regional emergency event.
There is now a huge amount of work that has to be undertaken by the Province, Metro Vancouver, and the many municipal emergency response organizations across the region, but it is essential that all municipal Councils support this critical initiative.
RALPH DREW
MAYOR
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