Photo Credit: ICLR
The background story of this photo (of which I'm sure you want to know) is showing some of the aftermath of a storm which occurred August 19, 2005. The storm swept through southwestern Ontario complete with at least 2 tornadoes and extensive rainfalls throughout. According to the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR) in Toronto, this was the most costly disaster in the Province's history with greater than $500 million (CDN) in damages.
As interesting as this photo is in showing disaster results or exclaiming massive costs of failure or other such things (especially 'the story behind the story')... this is not why I have posted it here.
The ICLR has done an excellent job in highlighting the complexities of our infrastructure. Note the labelling: gas mains, water mains, hydro cabling, telephone cabling, sewers and even aesthetic pedestrian pathway. Oh, did I mention the road was broken, too?
In the grand scheme of things the cost of this road failure, in terms of reconstruction, did not even allow for the municipality to claim for disaster funding. But look at all the infrastructure that was damaged or destroyed:
And that's just the obvious. Note the impact this would have on our: hydro rates, telephone bills, water bills, natural gas bills and tax rates (don't forget the parks path!).
What about the not-so-obvious? Lost business with downed telephone service, wasted (thawed) frozen food, possible potable water contamination, lost productivity due to an increase in commuting time... oh, and a lesser quality of life because the park cannot be accessed.
These are the real costs of disasters. They are mostly hidden. They are mostly borne by the municipality or the private sector. Where do they recover their costs from? I think we all know the answer to that.
An aside: There's a couple of significant things happening in Canada that are relevant to this blog.
First, a new report has been released by a Standing Committee of our Senate (basically the place where our politicians go to retire) entitled:
"Emergency Preparedness In Canada... Report of the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence". The reason for the elipses points is for the subtitle of the report:
"How the fine arts of bafflegab and procrastination hobble the people who will be trying to save you when things get really bad..."
I kid you not... actually, it's as entertaining a read as a Senate Report can be.
The other significant event is a Canadian federal election that was just called by our prime minister. I wont even make fun of it (yet), however I will say the municipalities (especially in Ontario) are ramping up to make infrastructure, critical infrastructure and lack of funding for such big political issues for the election.
More on these to come...
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