By Sirrah Harris, Fordham Law Student

Note: This post was written on 1/9/09 during Fordham Law School’s Student Hurricane Network trip to New Orleans, LA to volunteer for the Disaster Accountability Project.

CERT stands for community emergency response team and it is just what it sounds like. CERTs  are teams of ordinary citizens that have been trained in basic disaster response skills.  Because CERT members are from the community they can be on the scene and helping out as soon disaster strikes.

Recently in New York City, after a crane collapsed and destroyed a building, CERT members worked with the city’s Office of Emergency Management to help residents and maintain order. This past year when flash floods threatened Branson, Missouri, CERT members worked with Fire and Rescue to alert citizens and clean up the aftermath.

Utah and Michigan have taken CERT further by creating programs for teens. Teen CERT educates youth on disaster preparedness by implementing the program in high schools. Through classroom training and simulations, students acquire skills in basic disaster response, team building, and communication. High schools across the country have implemented Teen CERT programs to educate their students.

Recently in Provo, Utah, a three-day training was held to educate the community about Teen CERT programs. In addition to providing training on disaster preparedness, the event focused on how to get the programs in high schools.

In Michigan, the Center for Regional and National Security (CeRNS) at Eastern Michigan University initiated a grant funded pilot project from Michigan Citizen Corp to initiate disaster preparedness programs for youth. Teen CERT was adopted to educate students about how to prepare for disasters specific to the area they live.

This past year Texas held their 5th annual CERT Olympics, Michigan and Mississippi have also held CERT Olympics for their local teams. These events bring together teams from all over the state to compete in games modeled after rescue situations. They provide an opportunity for team members to practice their disaster response skills and develop the confidence and competence they need to help their community in the event of an actual emergency.

As a Disaster Accountability Monitor, belonging to a CERT team could provide you with the training to better recognize and assess gaps in emergency response planning, as well as giving you the skills to help fill those gaps in the event of an emergency.