As the Fraser Valley reflects on the two year anniversary of its historic flood, the Government of B.C is engaging with its communities to seek feedback on its new Emergency and Disaster Management Act (EDMA) this month.

Jerry Hack, manager of the Central Fraser Valley Search and Rescue, who was on the ground with the other emergency services and police during the flood, recognizes the challenges of managing disaster events now and preparing for them in the future.

“No matter how much training we have, you can't prepare for flooding like that,” Hack says. “We’ve taken what we've learned from that time two years ago, and a lot of us are still on the team and a lot of us remember what to do next, and how to handle the situations next and what other equipment could we use instead of what we had.”

Something that Hack does believe needs to be addressed is overall communication for what emergency services need both during the event, and after during recovery.

“In one night, we went from walking in our boots to asking for gumboots to full on boat within one night,” Hack says. “I don't think, I don't think the alert was there. On the state side, you can hear the siren for an emergency. There's nothing like that here except for people knocking on doors. You don't know until somebody comes to you and says, ‘hey, you're being evacuated now.’ So I don't think that communication is there yet.”

On Nov 8, the provincial government introduced a new Emergency and Disaster Management Act (EDMA). The new act replaces the Emergency Program Act, and will rework the provinces emergency management policies

In an email to CIVL, the province says that the new EDMA, “integrates lessons learned from emergencies in B.C. in recent years, and reflects modern risks and realities, including climate change. It also takes a more proactive approach to emergency management, with an emphasis on disaster risk reduction.”

Members of the Ministry of Emergency Management and Climate Readiness attended an emergency engagement workshop in Abbotsford on Nov 15. The ministry says that the chance to hear how EDMA can be improved to better enhance financial recovery and assistance, tailored for individual communities, compared to a "one size fits all" method.

Abbotsford is one of many communities in the Fraser Valley the Ministry is engaging with to hear feedback and concerns from the people on how EDMA can better serve in financial recovery, and encourages people in the Fraser Valley to continue to engage publicly until their forums end on Dec 31.

Listen here for to the story: