We met with our client, the North Shore Emergency Management Office (NSEMO) to gain further information on the project. The meeting took place at NSEMO headquarters in North Vancouver, which provided us with a chance to tour their facilities such as the emergency operations centre room where applicable parties would assemble in an emergency, and a radio broadcast room which is also used by an amateur radio club in non-emergency times. We were joined at the meeting by the other CBEL team working on this project, who we will be working closely with.
The group at NSEMO headquarters
About NSEMO
NSEMO manages emergency response for the North Shore, covering three municipalities: City of North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver and District of West Vancouver. If an emergency such as a natural disaster arises, NSEMO mobilizes to ensure citizens are safe and that appropriate response measures are undertaken, fulfilling its mission “to serve and support the North Shore municipalities and citizens in preparing for, responding to, and recovering from emergencies and disaster” (retrieved from nsemo.org).
Our Job
As mentioned in the last blog post, we will be helping NSEMO prepare for an earthquake response drill. In a simulated earthquake to take place in June 2014, municipal personnel will drive around and perform a windshield assessment, where they observe damage and report it back to NSEMO’s operation centre.
At the meeting, we learned about our particular role in this project and the deliverables. During the earthquake simulation, responders will drive to a location and open an envelope that describes observed damage. We will be preparing these damage descriptions, referred to as injects. Injects can be in several forms:
- Written descriptions of damage
- Altered photos of a site with simulated damage added
- Altered videos of a site with simulated damage added
NSEMO has requested 30-50 injects between our group and the other CBEL group. Injects must correspond to locations across North and West Vancouver and should reflect primary earthquake damage such as cracked buildings and roads, ground settlement and industrial fires (and not secondary effects such as landslides, flooding, etc.). NSEMO requires the injects in time for their June 2014 training exercise, however we will need to complete the project before then to meet the timelines of our CIVL 202 course.
Next Steps
We now have the information we need to start the project. The next steps are as follows:
- Determine intermediate milestones and set timelines
- Divide responsibilities with the other CBEL group
- Identify team members who can make particular contributions (e.g. Photoshop skills, owns a car to drive around and take photos)
- Identify damage sites and review with NSEMO
- Collect photos and compile injects
We are working closely with the other CBEL group and have created a shared Google Drive for transfer of information. We have also been having weekly meetings to work toward completing the project.
That’s all for now! Stay tuned for our next blog post which will outline project timelines and intermediate goals.