How many times is it worth rebuilding? This question is something governments are beginning to ask themselves as disaster prone communities are finding themselves hit again and again by storms, floods, and fires, often before the recovery from the last disaster is complete. For Canada, Steven Guilbeault, Environmental Minister for the federal government, recently raised the possibility of working with threatened communities to relocate them to less exposed areas.
Said Guilbeault to CBC News in an interview, “If we know that an area is going to be flooded or very exposed to hurricanes, is it a reasonable thing for us as governments — not just the federal government but other levels of government — to work with people, to maybe have to relocate them?”
Guilbeault also observed, “What we don’t necessarily have at this point is all the analysis to be able to try and anticipate where these natural catastrophes will occur. But it may be the case that we will have to tell people, ‘Your area is an area that’s very exposed to these catastrophes and it would be better for you to move’.”
The discussion is also one which has started at more local levels, with Brian Button, mayor of Port aux Basques in Newfoundland talking about the recent impact of Hurricane Fiona on the town, noting “We have a bunch of people where there’s nothing left here for them, their home has been destroyed, their property has been destroyed … They don’t want to live here anymore.”
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