Project Complete
Principle Investigator
Stephanie Chang, University of British Columbia
Call
Knowledge Mobilization Fund Call in 2019-2020
We are proposing the development of an application for mobile devices (“app”) that would communicate local hazards risk information and assist residents of our partner communities to develop customized household emergency preparedness and response plans. This app will make use of pre-compiled risk information provided by each of our partnering communities to situate generated emergency plans with the local and regional context. Information about household members will be used to expand and refine these plans to ensure they meet the needs of user households. There are three main goals for this project:
- To provide the residents of our partner communities with clear, authoritative information about local coastal and earthquake hazards affecting them and their homes;
- To assist the residents in the development of household emergency plans addressing the specific and unique needs of each user household; and
- To help communities build resilience to coastal hazards.
This would be a two-phase project, with the first phase(2019–2020) focused on aversion of the app for iOS devices and a second phase (2020–2021) would expand upon this work and also introduce support for Android devices. Much of the structure for this project is based on an earlier pilot study successfully conducted in Port Alberni in 2017 (Reynolds, 2017). Seven communities on Vancouver Island—Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, Nanaimo, Oak Bay, Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Strathcona Regional District, and Tofino—have agreed to partner with us on this project, providing in-kind and minor financial assistance.
