Three out of the four costliest natural disasters in Canada happened within the last six years, right here in Alberta, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.
Those natural disasters were the Slave Lake fire in 2011, the Southern Alberta flood in 2013 and the Fort McMurrary wildfire last year. The other disaster was the Red River flood that took place in Manitoba in 1997.
After the 2013 flood, the Centre for Community Disaster Research was created after recognizing communities across Alberta and the world need to plan and prepare for extreme events. The centre focuses on research, education and outreach related to natural, social, technological and economic disasters.
It will host Resilient Calgary at Mount Royal University, a TEDTalk-style series of presentations highlighting disaster research in Alberta.
Tim Haney, director of the centre, said the event will be wrapping up the centre’s first three years, shifting the focus from disaster-affected communities to resilient communities.
“I hope it’ll reshape how people think about disaster risk and about resilience. And I hope that there are lessons that can be implemented when future disasters happen.”
Ten research projects will be presented at the event.
Some of the projects are by Mount Royal professors, like women and gender studies professor Kim Williams who will be presenting her research on how pets are evacuated during emergencies.
During the Fort McMurrary wildfire, Williams noticed on social media many evacuees had questions and concerns about where their pets will go and what would happen to them if they were left behind.
“I’ve been trying to figure out what to do, how might we better incorporate companion animals – people’s pets – which are so much part of their families into thinking about how to keep humans safe,” said Williams.
Another researcher is Caroline McDonald-Harker, a sociology professor at Mount Royal. She lives in the Foothills MD and was approached during the aftermath of the 2013 floods to provide workshops for families affected by the disaster. This lead to research on how children and youth are particularly affected by disasters.
“Why are some [children] more resilient in the face of serious traumatic events like disasters and why are some not? And what are some of those internal and external factors and characteristics that they have in their lives that allow them to be more resilient? Knowing that information we would be able to help more children be able to develop those skills and characteristics in their lives,” said McDonald-Harker.
Resilient Calgary will run May 16 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Mount Royal’s Bella Concert Hall.