May 5, 2005

Structure unveiled by institute

House retrofitted against earthquakes used as learning tool for homeowners

By Peggy Hill

staff writer

A house retrofitted against earthquakes was unveiled earlier this week in Vancouver by the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction (ICLR).

It was timed to coincide with Emergency Preparedness Week and comes with a message for homebuilders and renovators: a catastrophic earthquake in Canada is inevitable.

“There’s a very long historic record of earthquakes happening in these areas (Ottawa, Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria and Quebec City),” says Paul Kovacs, executive director of ICLR. “The frequency is highest on the West Coast, but it’s high enough in the Ottawa-Montreal area that we have had damaging events in the past and we’re very confident that there will be damaging events in the future.”

Paul Kovacs

“Quite fortunately over a number of decades now the large earthquakes that have happened in Canada have happened farther away from populated centres. The scientific community is still talking about an earthquake that could do as much as $30 billion worth of damage. We’re talking about a fairly extensive loss of life, a lot of buildings being damaged.”

Kovacs says the retrofit was done on an occupied home that is typical of that region. It cost $4,000.

“We spent about $1,000 anchoring various things around the house.” That included cabinets, bookcases, bedroom furniture, the furnace and hot water heater.

The contractors were Jay Lewis at Terra Firm Earthquake Preparedness Inc., John O’Sullivan with Quake Koso Canada and Ellar McKellar at Four Season Window Films.

O’Sullivan installed a gas shut-off valve, while McKellar applied a film over the windows that would prevent flying shards of glass in the event of the windows shattering.

The house is being used as a learning tool for homeowners and renovators, but the ICLR is also moving toward bringing its programs to new homebuilders.

“We have a program that we’re in the process of developing that will focus more on new homes,” Kovacs says. “That one, hopefully, we’ll have ready before the end of the year called Design for Safer Living.”

“If you’re building new, there are some more things that can be done on the basic frame and structure of the home that are very affordable and cost-effective during the build process.”

For example, Kovacs says, one suggestion in an earthquake-prone area is to put in larger and more bolts that hold the wooden frame to the foundation of the home.

“If you’re doing that during the build, the extra cost is a few pennies. If the home is already built, then it’s very costly. It’s not the sort of thing that we would advise.”

Kovacs recently attended the Canadian Home Builders’ Association’s (CHBA) annual meeting in St. John’s in an effort to open a dialogue with builders. He said it was “encouraging”.

He recognizes that builders might be reluctant to add features that would raise the cost of a new home.

He estimates that the price could go up one-half to one per cent.

But he argues it is necessary to accept the short-term inconvenience for the long-term benefits and safety.

“Some of what’s motivating our longer-term program is that we think the weather in 50 years will be quite different than the weather today.

"Perhaps a little bit more alarming, with more wind and more floods.”

He also noted in his speech to the CHBA that more people are moving to vulnerable areas

The ICLR has done two retrofits previously — one in London in 2003 to make the structure more resilient against tornadoes, and a Halifax home last year was fortified against hurricanes.

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