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rural-realities-1-3.pdf
Volume 1 | Issue 3
© 2006, Rural Sociological Society
Rural Realities is published by the Rural Sociological Society, 104 Gentry Hall, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-7040
http://www.ruralsociology.org
Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) – local residents trained as first responders to natural disasters – can also be used to help build community capacity before disasters strike.
The CERTs framework for pulling together localities to prepare for disasters can also be mobilized to focus attention on other pressing issues in local areas.
In communities with less capacity, CERT programs can provide a roadmap for how people and organizations can organize themselves to address important local issues and challenges
To be effective in developing community capacity, CERTs must: • Involve diverse groups of residents and ensure balanced community representation • Get back to basics – CERTs have lately focused almost exclusively on major natural disasters and terrorist acts. However, they were originally designed to respond to a variety of local emergencies and serve as a broad-based conduit for community development and civic engagement. • Update training: Community development and civic engagement training should be the cornerstone of all CERT programs • Expand the view of what constitutes a disaster: rapid economic decline or environmental change can also be disastrous for rural areas
The federal government should: • Re-evaluate the role and position of FEMA and the CERT Program within the Department of Homeland Security • Re-evaluate the 2000 Disaster Management Act in light of rural community vulnerability
Community Emergency Response Teams: From Disaster Responders to Community Builders By Courtney Flint and Mark Brennan
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In brief...
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
local 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.1 Based on the
concept of neighbors helping neighbors, the CERT
program trains local volunteers as first responders
to emergencies. CERTs, which are administered
by Citizen Corps and the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA), blend a bottom-up
appreciation for the role of local volunteers with a
top-down institutional framework for training and
coordination.
Although promising, if the CERT program is to be
effective, it should be adaptable to different levels
of local capacity and should broadly represent the
citizenry it is intended to protect and serve.
This brief explores CERT’s role both in helping rural
communities prepare for disaster and in building
sustainable capacity in those communities. If CERT
is to achieve its potential as a tool for community-
capacity building, it must re-embrace its original
focus on long-term preparedness and sustainability,
promote broad-based community participation, and
revamp its training materials to focus on developing
community and civic engagement. At the federal
level, community disaster management must move
beyond the current emphasis on terrorism and
national security, and current disaster policy must
provide funds and expertise to rural communities in
disaster mitigation planning.
Disaster Policy Shifts to Local Control Local communities are less often seen today as
helpless victims needing outside assistance. In
fact, local involvement and community capacity
are increasingly recognized as a vital first line
of defense in disaster mitigation, response, and
recovery. The Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000, which
requires local and tribal governments to submit
action plans to reduce long-term risk, essentially
shifts the burden of disaster preparedness to local
control, although not without some federal financial
assistance. However, access to federal planning
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A Word About the CERT Program The Community Emergency Response Team
(CERT) Program educates people about disaster
preparedness for hazards that may impact their
area and trains them in basic disaster response
skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue,
team organization, and disaster medical operations.
Using the training learned in the classroom and
during exercises, CERT members can assist others
in their neighborhood or workplace following
an event when professional responders are not
immediately available to help. CERT members also
are encouraged to support emergency response
agencies by taking a more active role in emergency
preparedness projects in their community.
funds is linked to compliance with these requirements.
The National Response Plan, established by the
Department of Homeland Security in December
2004, also emphasizes local response to
emergencies – by local police, fire, medical
personnel, and other responders – and specifies
that responses be handled at the lowest possible
organizational and jurisdictional level. Federal
involvement is outlined for cases when an incident
exceeds local and state capabilities. However, as the
2005 hurricane season underscored, disaster policy
and response frameworks must be bolstered to
better support the role of local communities.
Community Emergency Response Teams The CERT program emerged from a growing
appreciation for local participation. The first CERT
appeared in Los Angeles in 1985 when city officials
and the Los Angeles Fire Department modeled
a disaster program on the Japanese tradition of
involving local residents and volunteers in training
Map 1: CERTs Currently in Operation in the United States, as of October 2006
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Source: CERT and Citizen Corps. Retrieved from http://www.citizencorps.gov/citizenCorps/certsByState
drills. San Francisco Bay Area communities began
adopting CERT programs around the time of the
Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. After Hurricane
Andrew in 1992, Orlando adopted the CERT
approach, and FEMA also began developing
standardized training materials and facilitating
training programs. The CERT program expanded
greatly after 2001. According to Citizen Corps
in October 2006, 2,383 CERTs were in operation
across the United States (see Map 1).
CERT training focuses primarily on first aid and
triage, logistics and communication, search and
rescue, and team organization (Table 1). The
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Table 1. CERT Training Materials and Incident Plans, and Recommended Areas for Expansion
CERT Training Modules • Disaster Preparedness • Fire Safety • Disaster Medical Operations • Advanced Disaster Medical Operations • Light Search and Rescue Operations • CERT Organization • Disaster Psychology • Terrorism and CERT • Disaster Simulation
Specific Incidents Covered in the CERT Plans • Earthquake • Fires and wildfires • Floods • Excessive heat • Hurricanes and coastal storms • Landslides and mudflows • Severe thunderstorms • Tornadoes • Tsunamis • Volcanoes • Winter storms • Nuclear power plant emergencies • Hazardous materials incidents
1. Key Components of Local Community- Building:
• The role of local institutions • The nature of community leadership • The demographic and economic complexion of
the community • Community and economic development
strategies
2. Building Broad-Based Citizen Involvement: • Uncovering the community-building assets of
local people and organizations • Leadership development • Expanding voices through public deliberation • Effectively managing community conflicts
3. Responding to Local Economic and Environmental Disasters
4. Addressing Rapid Growth/Decline of Diverse Populations
5. Local Participation in Environmental and Natural Resource Risk Mitigation:
• Opportunities for volunteer involvement with land management agencies
• Voluntary assistance with environmental monitoring
Current Activities
Proposed Areas for Future CERT Training
volunteers become official auxiliaries of local
emergency management services. In some cases,
CERTs are administered at the county level with
a top-down approach and organization. In other
cases, these teams grow from neighborhood and
community initiative, with more local control over
organization and responsibilities.
Rural CERTs: Expanding Possibilities Many of the country’s rural areas are characterized
by poverty, the exodus of younger skilled residents,
and lower levels of educational attainment, all of
which shape the capacities of local communities
to respond to and rebuild after disasters. If used
effectively, CERTs can help rural areas that are
under social and economic stress respond more
effectively to disasters by building capacity before
disaster strikes. The CERTs framework for pulling
together localities to prepare for times of need also
can be mobilized to focus attention on other pressing
issues in local areas. In rural communities that are
well prepared for disaster, the existing networks,
infrastructures, and alliances can be refocused
on economic development or other community
improvement projects. In communities with less
capacity, CERT programs can provide a roadmap
for how people and organizations can organize
themselves to address important local issues and
challenges. As the instructor guide for the CERT
training materials states, “(O)rganized grassroots
efforts may be more successful if they are woven
into the social and political fabric of the community.”
Balanced Community Representation is Crucial For CERTs to be effective in rural communities,
their membership must represent the entire local
population and effectively tap local talent and
expertise. Drawing together diverse groups not
only provides resources and experiences, but more
important, it creates transparency in the local
decision making. To be effective, CERTs should
include residents with professional and trade skills
for damage control and assessment (e.g. engineers,
environmental scientists, architects, contractors,
and skilled laborers), disaster preparedness and
response training (for example, VFW, retired military,
national guard, or police), medical, psychological,
and social service delivery experience (for example,
health practitioners, counselors, religious and civic
groups) and long-time residents who have witnessed
previous responses to natural disasters. At the same
time, the demographic diversity of the community
– its race, ethnic, age, and economic richness – must
also be duly represented on the local CERTs.
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Tapping CERT Potential in Rural Montana Out here in rural Montana, if we get a wildfire or a
flood, we will be on our own for a long time. CERT
is about learning to take care of ourselves and each
other. The challenge is figuring out how to keep the
volunteers involved over time between emergencies.
– Art Koenig, CERT Coordinator
Musselshell County, Montana
The mission of Musselshell County CERT Program is to
engage the abilities of individuals through education,
training, and volunteer service to make communities
safer, stronger, and better prepared to respond to
the threats of terrorism, crime, public health issues,
and disasters of all kinds. The program tailors
activities to the community and builds on community
strengths to develop and implement a local strategy
for individual participation.
5
By mobilizing and engaging a broad-based group
of people and organizations, CERTs can build
stronger ties among a variety of local people and
organizations, as well as facilitate the development
of positive linkages with external resources that can
help in times of need. As such, they can play two
complimentary roles -- prepare for and respond
to disasters, and contribute to rural well-being by
engaging in broader rural development initiatives.
Building relationships in quiet times creates a
valuable network and sense of community to call on
in times of emergency or disaster.
Policy Suggestions Local residents are present long before and long
after disaster. Effective policies to help build
broader community capacity beyond disaster
planning are essential in reducing vulnerability in
rural communities. The following policy suggestions
would help to support CERTs in developing or
expanding this capacity, with the added value of
creating healthier communities in the long term.
Re-evaluate the Role and Position of FEMA and the CERT Program within the Department of Homeland Security. Community disaster management must move beyond
the current emphasis on terrorism and national
security. The CERT program is currently administered
by FEMA and Citizen Corps under the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), where its focus risks being
overshadowed by a strong emphasis in DHS on
terrorism. Although national coordination of CERT is
important – and the appointment of a new national
CERT coordinator is promising – developing CERT
guidelines at the state level would provide oversight
that is more in line with regional, environmental, and
institutional contexts. For example, see the Vermont
CERT guidelines at http://www.dps.state.vt.us/vem/
cert/.
Re-evaluate the 2000 Disaster Management Act in Light of Rural Community Vulnerability Current disaster policy, under the Disaster
Management Act of 2000, calls for all communities
in the country to establish disaster mitigation
plans. However, mandating disaster planning as
a prerequisite for receiving federal disaster funds
may severely disadvantage some of the most
vulnerable communities, particularly in rural areas.
It would be better to provide funds and expertise
to rural communities in disaster mitigation planning.
Consciously integrating local, state, and federal
disaster planning, personnel, and infrastructure can
better facilitate disaster mitigation efforts in rural
America.
Get Back to Basics • Re-emphasize the original mission
CERT and other such programs have evolved in
recent years to focus almost exclusively on major
natural disasters and terrorist acts. However,
CERTs were originally designed to respond to
a variety of local emergencies and serve as a
broad-based conduit for community development
and civic engagement. Future policy and program
development efforts would do well to recognize the
original purpose of these teams and work to keep
CERTs together and active over the course of the
long time spans between disasters.
• Underscore the mission with training
Training programs could be a valuable instrument
to facilitate continued community involvement of
CERT participants. In fact, community development
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6
and civic engagement training should be the
cornerstone of all CERT programs, including
training in asset mapping, assessing local power
structures, conflict resolution skills, management
methods, and community demographic/economic
profile development. Training activities could be
provided by Extension educators who are part of
each state’s land-grant university system, community
college faculty, or by other community development
educators. Such training could relay to citizens that
their involvement is essential to local development
well beyond times of disaster.
• Reinforce the mission
Changes to CERT program descriptions and
language would also reinforce a broader mission
for CERTs. Program descriptions should stress that a
first step in being ready to respond to emergencies
is building local capacity for change. These changes
would return attention to the enormous local impact
that CERTs can have.
Ensure Broad-Based Participation As noted in an earlier section of this brief, to be
effective, local CERT teams must reflect the local
population. CERT training materials should guide
communities in ensuring representative participation.
Without such efforts, select groups might be
excluded, ignored, and eliminated from decision
making. Such exclusions are particularly detrimental
in times of severe disaster. In these dire conditions,
strong, comprehensive networks are vital to quick
and efficient response.
Steps to ensure broad representation include
canvassing multiple community groups (formal and
informal) to encourage participation, and adding an
additional CERTs training unit on community capacity-
building, asset mapping, and the importance of
including diverse community residents and groups.
Expanding Our View of What Constitutes a Disaster CERTs can provide a variety of services and increase
local capacities to respond to disaster. They can
also do more. To effectively expand their focus, we
must first expand our view of what we consider
disasters. Emergencies and disasters take many
forms. Hurricanes and floods are the most recent
vivid examples. However, disasters in the form of
rapid economic decline or environmental change
(drought, forest fires) may have equally detrimental
effects on rural life and well-being. CERT programs
offer the potential to help communities respond to
nontraditional disasters and to directly shape local
capacity for rural development.
Closing Thoughts Regardless of the type of disaster facing rural
communities, building local capacity prior to disaster
is key, both to the effectiveness of the response
and to the ability to bounce back after disaster
strikes. Where there is local capacity, CERTs will
flourish and provide critical disaster response skills
and organization for recovery. By building local
structures, networks, and effective communication
through community-capacity training, CERTs can
also contribute broadly to local life. Such efforts
could have a dramatic effect in vulnerable
rural communities with an eye to simultaneously
developing a sense of community among residents
while addressing specific disaster risk mitigation,
preparedness, response, and recovery capabilities.
Such a vision is by no means idealistic or utopian.
Communities that are well organized, broadly
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7
connected, and have the capacity to act, will
be able to prepare, respond, and recover far
more quickly. Most important, the path that these
communities take will be a product of the vision,
ingenuity, and hard work of local people, not ones
mandated by external parties. In the final analysis,
locally driven activities are the only way to truly
advance the long-term vitality of these local places.
Endnote 1. Community capacity refers to the ability of a
diversity of people, formal organizations, and
informal groups to work together in tackling the
important challenges affecting their communities.
Additional Resources Brennan, M. A. 2005. Volunteerism and Community
Development: A Comparison of Factors Shaping
Volunteer Behavior in Ireland and America,” Journal
of Volunteer Administration 23(2): 20-28.
Berke, P.R., J. Kartez, and D. Wenger. 1993.
“Recovery after Disaster: Achieving Sustainable
Development, Mitigation and Equity,” Disasters 17(2):
93-109.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
2000. Planning for a Sustainable Future: The Link
Between Hazard Mitigation and Livability. FEMA
Report 364. Washington, DC: FEMA.
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
2000. Rebuilding for a More Sustainable Future:
An Operational Framework. FEMA Report 365.
Washington, DC: FEMA.
Flint, C.G., and A.E. Luloff. 2005. “Natural
Resource-Based Communities, Risk, and Disaster:
An Intersection of Theories,” Society and Natural
Resources 18(5): 399-412;
Herbert, S. 2005. “The Trapdoor of Community,”
Annals of the Association of American Geographers
95(4): 850-865.
Hewitt, K. 1998. “Excluded Perspectives in the
Social Construction of Disaster.” Pp. 75-92 in E.L.
Quarantelli (ed.), What Is a Disaster? Perspectives on
the Question. New York: Routledge.
Independent Sector. 2001. Giving and volunteering
in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Independent
Sector.
Luloff, A. E., and J. Bridger. 2003. “Community
Agency and Local Development.” Pp. 202-213 in D.
Brown and L. Swanson. (eds.), Challenges for Rural
America in the Twenty-First Century. University Park:
Pennsylvania State University Press,
Simpson, D. 2001. Community Emergency Response
Training (CERTs): A Recent History and Review,”
Natural Hazards Review 2(2): 54-63.
Wilkinson, K. P. 1991. The Community in Rural
America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
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http://www.ruralsociology.org/pubs/ruralrealities
The Rural Realities Editorial Board
Editorial Board: • Walt Armbruster
Farm Foundation • Frank Boteler
Economic and Community Systems, CSREES/USDA
• Alisha Coleman Penn State University
• Tadlock Cowan Congressional Research Service
• Al Cross Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, University of Kentucky
• Brian Dabson Rural Policy Research Institute, University of Missouri
• Robert Gibbs Economic Research Service, USDA
• Steve Murdock
University of Texas – San Antonio • William O’Hare
Visiting Senior Fellow – The Carsey Institute • Jim Richardson
National Rural Funders Collaborative • Louis Swanson
Colorado State University • Rachel Tompkins
Rural School and Community Trust • Michelle Worosz
Michigan State University
Technical Assistance Provided By: • Barbara Ray, Communications Specialist
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Jackson, Miss.
Series Editor: • Lionel J. “Bo” Beaulieu
Southern Rural Development Center Mississippi State University E-mail: [email protected]
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About the Authors Courtney Flint is assistant professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research interests focus on how communities respond to environmental change and disturbance. Her work examines the relationship between risk perception and local community action and how this affects natural resource management and disaster response and recovery. Questions regarding the content of this brief can be directed to Dr. Flint at [email protected].
Mark Brennan is an assistant professor of Community Development at the University of Florida. His work focuses on community, social change, disaster response/ recovery, and rural sociology.
Potential Rural Realities Authors We encourage potential authors to submit a brief abstract (approximately 250 words) via email to Bo Beaulieu, the Series Editor, at [email protected].
About Rural Realities Rural Realities is a quarterly publication of the Rural Sociological Society (RSS). Its purpose is to: (1) Provide valuable insights on the current and emerging issues impacting people and places in rural America and beyond; and (2) Offer policy and program options that might prove effective in addressing these important rural challenges and opportunities. Articles showcased in the series draw upon high quality social sciences-based studies conducted by researchers and practitioners located within universities/colleges, government, philanthropic, and nonprofit organizations.
The Rural Sociological Society is a professional social science association that promotes the generation, application and dissemination of sociological knowledge. The Society seeks to enhance the quality of rural life, communities and the environment through research, teaching, and outreach/extension education.
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