Cyclists will take to the streets of New Westminster to pump up awareness of the important role bikes can play in disasters.
Fifty cyclists are invited to take part in the City of New Westminster’s Amazing Disaster Rally on Saturday, May 10. It’s believed to be the first event of its kind in the Lower Mainland.
“We are trying to demonstrate the fact that in a major disaster such as an earthquake, the best way of getting around town, and maybe over bridges, would be by bike,” said Insp. Phil Eastwood of the New Westminster Police Department. “We have got an exercise on the last day of Emergency Preparedness Week.”
National Emergency Preparedness Week is taking place from May 4 to 10.
“It’s a rally not a race, taking in nine different locations of significance around the city, with competitors being asked at each of those locations to perform a task that’s related to emergency preparedness,” Eastwood explained. “They will either gain or lose points. By the time they get back to Queen’s Park, which is where we are starting it in the morning, we will have been able to tally their totals.
In addition to bragging rights, the top three finishers will receive large emergency preparedness backpacks from St. John Ambulance.
“It’s designed to get people thinking about their own state of preparedness,” Eastwood said. “It’s also designed for a bit of exercise as well, and to prove a point to keep your tires pumped up because you might need them one day.”
The rally, modeled on a similar event offered in Victoria last year, is based on the premise that bicycles would be a good way to access roads, pathways and bridges that vehicles can’t, and to move people, information and materials from one location to another following an earthquake.
“We have some pieces of critical infrastructure around the city that are significant to us in terms of a big-scale emergency,” Eastwood said. “That’s what we are basically going to draw on for our route as we go around the city. The idea is at every location, it will not only be something of significance there, but also there will be an exercise related to that location, so the participants will actually learn a bit about the city as well.”
Participants will check in and get a bike inspection at Queen’s Park between 8 and 8:45 a.m., get a briefing until 9 a.m. and take to the streets.
“They will know where they are going initially, but they won’t know where they are going after that,” Eastwood said. “They will only get the next coordinates of their next location once they complete the task. We are going to cover about 25 kilometres of the city, all on bike-friendly routes. We will have a whole bunch of volunteers and hopefully teach people a ton, and remind them about the importance of putting some thought into their own level of preparedness.”
Tasks may involve moving supplies and demonstrating a general understanding of fire safety/emergency preparedness.
“We are hoping this will be an annual thing from New Westminster’s perspective,” Eastwood said. “We know that we have the capacity to do more.”
The idea for the Amazing Disaster Rally came up at the city’s emergency advisory committee, which has been looking for an event to offer during Emergency Preparedness Week. Eastwood, Cory McLaren, the city’s assistant emergency planner, New Westminster firefighter Kathy Ius and Const. Wendy Bowyer of the New Westminster Police Department have been meeting weekly to plan the event.
While the City of New Westminster is organizing the rally, groups that would normally help in the event of a disaster are also onboard.
“It’s an opportunity for disaster response partners to come out and exercise as well,” Eastwood said. “We have got the Salvation Army, who of course were huge when we had our large-scale fire at 404 Ash St.; they are going to come out and do all the feeding of the volunteers and participants. We have St. John Ambulance – they are actually going to have a mobile bike team following along the course to make sure everyone is OK. Cap’s is going to make sure everyone is riding safe bikes before they even take off.”
Anyone interested in participating in the Amazing Disaster Rally must pre-register as participation is limited to 50 cyclists and no onsite registration is accepted. Participants must complete the registration form and submit it to the city by April 25.
For more information or to register, see www.newwestcity.ca. Click on Residents, then Public Safety and Emergency Management tabs.
