Halifax emergency plan is hard to find, out of date, expert says

Halifax's plan for an emergency is both difficult to find and apparently out of date, says an expert on crisis management.

Allan Bonner, who has reviewed the emergency plans of about 100 cities worldwide, says he couldn't dig up Halifax's master emergency plan and wasn't impressed with what he could find.

Bonner says the plan dates from 2003 and, for instance, should now include information about drones. Much morepublic education is needed to prepare people to handlea disaster, he said.

• How to be better prepared for an emergency

"No advice beforehand allows people to make their own decisions," he said. "That's what people did in New Orleans. They went to the Superdome and the Superdome was not an evacuation centre."

The city's emergency measuresco-ordinatorinsiststhe master emergency plan is updated regularly. Barry Manuel says there is a new list of evacuation centres and a new pet protocol.

He also says part of the evacuation plan has been changedand an overall review is underway.

Manuel agrees, however, that more public education is needed on details like evacuation routes and preparedness kits.

"We talk about having a 72-hour kit," he said. "We should be able to provide you with information about what you should put in that kit."

Manuel says every emergency is different, so plans have to be flexible.