Community Emergency Response Teams: From Disaster Responders to Community Builders

As the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2004 and 2005 made abundantly clear, rural communities are often left on their own to meet the emergency needs of their own residents. This is increasingly true in an age when the federal government frequently cedes control to state and local jurisdictions. Although this new responsibility opens the possibility for greater community involvement in local planning, not all communities have the capacity to meet these new obligations. Rural communities often find themselves doing more with less. This imbalance is perhaps no more evident than during a natural disaster. However, a new approach – the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program – shows promise, not only for disaster response, but also as a tool for building community capacity. Based on the concept of neighbors helping neighbors, the CERT program trains local volunteers as first responders to emergencies.