BC Housing and Rapid Damage Assessment
Post-Disaster Building Assessment (PDBA) enables communities responding to floods, windstorms or earthquakes to more rapidly assess the safety of buildings and allow people to reman in or return to their homes and businesses as soon as possible. This reduces the social impact of such events, allowing communities to recover more quickly and reducing the impact on emergency and social service resources.
BC Housing supports the PDBA process by hosting and Chairing the PDBA Advisory Group; by teaching Rapid Damage Assessment and the Coordination of Damage Assessment skills; and by providing tools such as the mobile app, field manual and various forms for building assessments.
Damage Assessment Training
The Rapid Damage Assessment (RDA) course teaches skills to identify unsafe conditions in wood frame, masonry and concrete construction caused by floods, earthquakes or windstorms. Individuals learn to assess damage to determine whether buildings can be occupied. BC Housing's rapid assessment skills are taught using the Applied Technology Council 20 & 45 guidelines from California, the PDBA Framework and Recommendations document, and feedback from the PDBA Advisory Committee.
Rapid Damage Assessment - Mobile App
Working together with GeoBC, the University of British Columbia Department of Engineering, and the North Shore Emergency Management on damage assessment technology, we have developed a mobile application with GIS capabilities. This app lets field teams record the location and severity of damage to buildings and sites using a smartphone or tablet.
See the Rapid Damage Assessment Template to get the app
Operations Guide from GeoBC (3.2 MB) (pdf).
Rapid Damage Assessment – Field Manual
The Rapid Damage Assessment Field Manual is a valuable training aid and resource when conducting assessments. They are available for purchase through Crown Publications.