The Regional District of Nanaimo is hoping for $24,000 in funding for the purchase of emergency communications equipment.
The district board gave the green light for an application to the Union of B.C. Municipalities community emergency preparedness fund at its January regular board meeting. If successful, money would go toward the purchase of nine handsets (dedicated phones and lines), two mobile satellite phones and a laptop with geographical information system capability and external data storage, for use at the RDN emergency operations centre housed at its Hammond Bay Road headquarters, according to Daniel Pearce, regional district director of transportation and emergency services.RELATED: Woman rescued after mudslide in Lantzville, region reports floodingRELATED: City, Regional District of Nanaimo ready to alert citizens to emergencies
“We’d be looking at upgrading phone systems, so the phones are a piece of that,” said Pearce. “Separate from that [are] satellite phones for more operational, as well as a mobile GIS lab … because it is quite a large database, big mapping systems, we need something that can easily be movable and that is a very specialized product.”
The application deadline is Friday, Feb. 2 and according to the UBCM, the funding announcement will be made in late March.
The regional district dealt with emergency situations Monday with flooding and mudslides.
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