Vancouver hires Seismic Manager reduce earthquake risk to buildings

The City of Vancouver has hired a seismic manager, Micah Hilt nine months after it first said it would, to establish a plan to reduce the earthquake risk to privately owned buildings.

Hilt was previously an urban planner with the City of San Francisco. He has started work in Vancouver this month.

The city’s decision to hire a “dedicated” seismic manager followed an investigation by  Province newspapers published last year that revealed the city had failed to create a proactive plan to reduce the seismic hazard of the city’s older private buildings, numbering in the thousands, despite identifying a need to do so more than two decades ago.

There is no law in Vancouver or any other B.C. municipality that requires older buildings to meet modern seismic safety standards. Some buildings in Vancouver have received seismic upgrades when changes-of-use or major renovations have triggered bylaw requirements.