British Columbia (BC) is to send a team of architects and construction managers to help rebuild earthquake-hit Wenchuan province, China with wood frame buildings.
“These professionals will apply Canada’s high-quality standards to projects and show how wood-frame building designs and products from British Columbia can be used in China,” said BC forests minister Pat Bell.
The province has started an advertising campaign to recruit the team. Initially, the team will work on school rebuilding projects.
The earthquake in Wenchuan during May killed or injured more than 450,000 people and left another 4.8 million people homeless.
BC exports to China more than doubled last year, with the rapid growh continuing in the first half of 2008 to 581,000m3. At this pace, the province is on course to sell almost one billion board feet of lumber to China this year.
