EDMONTON — Alberta’s auditor general says the province does a poor job of anticipating and preparing for disasters.
In a report released this morning, Doug Wylie says Alberta doesn’t have a consistent plan for evaluating the risk the province faces from disasters such as floods or wildfires.
He says the government began preparing one in 2014.
But the effort floundered after different ministries couldn’t agree on the severity of the risks posed by different hazards.
Wylie also found that many local municipalities have large gaps in their hazard assessments and many don’t have a risk assessment at all.
Wylie points out that factors such as climate change are increasing disaster risks in Alberta.
He says disaster costs have greatly expanded since 2003 and that better risk assessment would help Albertans prepare better and reduce the damages.