The Rural Disaster Resilience Project

The Rural Research Centre has recently partnered with The Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC) to become the East Coast research location for The Rural Disaster Resilience Project (RDRP). With a focus on enhancing local capacity and capability, this JIBC research initiative aims to develop and pilot a participatory process for engaging rural, remote and small coastal communities in disaster risk reduction planning at the local level. Two British Columbia communities recently field tested a series of planning materials and procedures to aid in this process. Community members and community-based researchers gathered information about their community, the hazards they face and the various resources at their disposal. These community-based research teams in British Columbia developed materials and a process they think will help other rural, remote and small coastal communities better prepare for disasters (such as hurricanes, natural gas explosions, effects on drinking water supplies through "fracking", forest fires, river flooding and other weather events, etc).

The RRC has been working with two community based researchers, Jane Morrigan and Trudy Watts, and has selected West Branch, River John as one of three Canadian communities to field test the existing disaster planning process and materials developed by the JIBC researchers. One part of the project will identify and describe all the potential disasters facing the community, and identify the existing resources and protocols that specifically apply to West Branch. The other part will involve participatory community-based research and interviews with area residents, from which a “made in West Branch” plan will be developed to prepare for disasters that might affect the community. Community feedback will be used to improve the materials and the planning process. The final result will be available not only for West Branch, but for all rural, remote and coastal communities in Canada that wish to engage in disaster risk reduction planning at the local level.

For more information about the The Rural Disaster Resilience Project (RDRP), please visit http://www.rdrp.ca/aboutus/project_description.htm or contact us here at the Rural Research Centre. You can phone us at 1-902-893-6227, fax us at (902) 893-6230 or send us a letter at The Rural Research Center, 56-58 Rock Garden Road, P.O. Box 550, Truro, NS B2N 5E3