Richmond councillor says Vancouver Coastal Health ignoring earthquake danger

RICHMOND, B.C. – A councillor in Richmond, B.C., says Vancouver Coastal Health has ignored studies about the safety of the city’s only hospital if a major earthquake occurs.

Bill McNulty says studies conducted in 2005 and 2011 found Richmond Hospital could not withstand even a moderate shaker.

McNulty says both reports found that the north tower of the hospital is seismically unstable.

He says the tower is over 50 years old and houses all the hospital’s operating rooms and half of its 200 beds, but the health authority has not developed any plan to upgrade or replace it.

McNulty says facilities at Richmond Hospital are inadequate to handle the city’s population of 207,000, and that the health authority must replace the north tower with an expanded acute care tower.

He says if action is not taken, Richmond could experience a preventable, man-made disaster, which he claims would be far worse than any natural disaster when an earthquake hits.