Dozens of BC schools getting seismic upgrades

By

VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Dozens of schools across Metro Vancouver and BC will be getting seismic upgrades over the next three school years.

The province has announced another round of funding for a program that has been quake-proofing schools since 2005.

The goal is to retrofit more than 300 schools by 2020, and Premier Christy Clark says this latest round of funding will help the School Seismic Mitigation Program reach a significant milestone.

“So we are about half way (now) and this represents us getting to two-thirds of the way,” she says.

$584 million will be spent on seismic upgrading at 45 schools across the province.

$111.8 million will be spent during the 2013/2014 school year to upgrade 10 schools.  Another $177 million will be spent in 2014/2015 upgrading 14 schools.  $295.4 million will be spent in 2015/2016 upgrading another 21 schools across the province.

Since 2001, the provincial government has spent or committed a total of $2.2 billion to seismically upgrade or replace high-risk schools.

An estimated $600 million is needed for similar work at more than a hundred schools across BC.

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today