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B.C. lumber to be deployed for quake relief effort in China
Jun 13, 2008Premier Gordon Campbell is expected to announce a made-in-B.C. relief plan for victims of the May 12 Chinese earthquake today that will use this province's abundant supply of lumber to build new homes.
Representatives of the forest industry confirmed yesterday they have presented the premier and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn, the Conservative MP for Saanich -- Gulf Islands, with a proposal to use Canadian wood and Canadian construction technology in the earthquake relief effort.
More than 69,000 people were killed in the May 12 quake and 1.4 million survivors have been found, according to China's Xinhua news agency. Up to five million people could need shelter.
Rick Jeffery, president of the Coast Forest Products Association, said the industry-led Canada Wood Group and Forestry Innovation Investment have laid out a comprehensive plan to both levels of government that introduces B.C. wood and Canadian wood-frame construction technology to the relief effort.
The B.C. plan is a two-phase project. Initially, 300 20-square-metre administrative centres are to be constructed that officials can use for co-ordinating their efforts to establish temporary housing for earthquake victims. The second phase is to build a 1,000-home village, complete with a store and school, using wood-frame technology.
