Fact Sheet For Municipalities

Fact Sheet For Municipalities ( PDFform )

Emergency situations are unpredictable. Are you prepared to deal with them? Do you know the hazards and risks to yourself and your community? You may remember some of these past emergencies:

• Naturally-caused events, such as the 1998 Ice Storm, 2003 SARS health emergency, 2006 tornadoes

• Technological failures, such as the 2003 power outage, 1979 Mississauga train derailment

• Human-caused situations, such as the September 11, 2001 terrorist event.

Like other jurisdictions worldwide, Ontario’s emergency management program continues to evolve to better meet the challenges caused by disasters, particularly in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. The Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act has recently been changed to provide authorities with more powers to enhance emergency response. Municipalities and provincial ministries, including the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and

Housing, are now required to identify risks and put in place emergency management programs and response plans.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing has a special responsibility for the co-ordination of provincial financial assistance during a disaster. The Ministry delivers the Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program (ODRAP) which:

• Provides financial assistance to municipalities, that are unable to manage damage costs due to the magnitude and frequency of natural disasters

• Assists individual, small businesses, farmers and non-profit organizations that do not have insurance and are unable to bear, on their own, the unexpected costs to return to normalcy in a timely manner. In such cases, provincial financial assistance matches 2:1 local fund raising.

Other programs may be designed to assist with sudden, unexpected costs and emotional stress.

In Ontario, the responsibility for emergency management is shared among individuals and families, communities and municipalities, and the governments of Ontario and Canada. We all have a role to play when disaster strikes.

Here is what you can do to help minimize the financial impact and emotional stress of a disaster:

• Design your public awareness strategy to inform homeowners and businesses about your priority community risks, and measures that can be taken to avoid or reduce the risks of property damage. A partnership with your local insurance industry is encouraged. Information from the Insurance Bureau of Canada through the Institute of Catastrophic Loss
• Reduction is available for homeowners on how to protect their homes from tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning/hail storms, wildfires, and earthquakes, at www.iclr.org .

• Make sure your municipality has adequate insurance coverage. Some municipalities are adopting management strategies to address public liability, which may include priority community risks. Identifying potential risks and implementing practical measures to reduce or eliminate them in the community, such as pre-positioning sandbags in community facilities for immediate deployment, may help the municipality ensure the safety of its residents.

• Engage in “continuity of government” planning. Senior municipal officials should consider how they will ensure that critical and time sensitive services continue in order to protect public safety, such as water and sewage sanitation. Viable recovery strategies and plans could help restore the community back to normalcy faster, resulting in reduced impacts on individuals/families, the municipality and local economy.

• Engage in mutual assistance agreements with neighbouring municipalities. Often, municipalities co-ordinate the procurement of supplies and equipment in advance for mutual cost-saving benefits.

• Budget for unexpected emergencies and set aside reserve “rainy day” funds to implement immediate protective measures and recovery operations, such as debris clearance following a windstorm.

• Visit www.mah.gov.on.ca/odrap and review Ontario Disaster Relief Assistance Program Handbook. On page 12, you will find the Municipal Council Checklist, which provides a way of recording the first things you can do in the event of a disaster.

• Contact the Municipal Services Office (MSO) for your area and request a generic template of a Municipal Damage Report so that you can have it available for the purposes of applying for ODRAP. You may wish to become familiar with use of this reporting format and ODRAP eligibility requirements before a disaster happens.

• Engage and train local community groups interested in volunteering their time at no charge to assist in evacuee centres and fund raising activities, as this will provide relief to those municipal workers who are already engaged in other response activities.

• Offer subsidy programs to assist homeowners with retrofitting costs of homes that experience recurring disaster damages. For example, one municipality offered a one-time subsidy following the August 19, 2005 storm to homeowners with practical flood prevention solutions to avoid future basement flooding.

• Integrate your community’s priority risks into land use planning when developing official plan policies and making planning decisions.

The federal government intervenes only when requested or when the emergency clearly impacts on areas of federal jurisdiction, such as on federal lands or when the emergency is of international significance. If the province requires assistance from the federal government, it must be formally requested through EMO. Visit www.publicsafety.gc.ca for information about the federal government’s department on public safety.

Central Region
777 Bay Street, 2^nd Floor
Toronto, ON M5G 2E5
Tel: 416-585-6226
or 1-800-668-0230

Eastern Region
8 Estate Lane
Kingston, ON
K7M 9A8
Tel: 613-545-2100 or
1-800-267-9438

Southwestern Region
659 Exeter Road,2nd Floor
London, ON
N6E 1L3
Tel: 519-873-4020
or 1-800-265-4736

Northeastern Region
159 Cedar Street, Suite 401
Sudbury, ON
P3E 6A5
Tel: 705-564-0120 or
1-800-461-1193

Northwestern Region
435 James St. S., Suite 223
Thunder Bay, ON
P7E 6S7
Tel: 807-465-5027
or 1-800-465-5027

Municipal Programs and Education Branch
777 Bay Street
Toronto, ON
Tel: 416- 585-7296
For more information, visit
mah.gov.on.ca/odrap