History of CERT
In September of 1985, an earthquake in Mexico City killed more than
10,000 people and injured more than 30,000. Mexico City bad no training
program for citizens prior to the disaster. However, large groups of volunteers
organized themselves into search and rescue units. Volunteers are credited
with more than 800 successful rescues. Unfortunately, more than 100 of
these untrained volunteers died during the 15-day rescue operation. The
lessons learned in Mexico City strongly indicated that a plan was needed
to train volunteers to help themselves and others, and become an essential
part of overall preparedness, survival, and recovery.
The City of Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) recognized that citizens
would very likely be on their own during the early stages of a catastrophic
disaster. They decided that some basic training in disaster survival and
rescue skills would improve the ability of citizens to survive until responders
or other assistance could arrive. The Community Emergency Response Team
(CERT) concept was developed and implemented in 1985.
During a disaster, the number and scope of incidents can overwhelm conventional
emergency services. Citizens may initially be on their own for 72 hours
or more. The ability of a community to recover from a devastating terrorist
event or any other disaster/emergency requires active planning, participation,
and cooperation from of all members of society. Each individual shares
the responsibility for preparedness. Experience has shown that in a disaster
setting ordinary citizens make over 80 per cent of successful rescues
as they respond to the emergency in their community. One goal of the CERT
program is to train them do so effectively and efficiently without causing
harm or placing themselves in unnecessary danger.
The CERT program is an all-risk, all-hazard training designed to help
citizens protect themselves, their family, their neighbors, and their
neighborhood in an emergency situation. By encouraging preparedness and
hazard mitigation, CERT can help minimize the effects of a disaster and
facilitate a faster recovery.
The training program that the LAFD initiated proved to be so beneficial
that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) felt that the concept
and the program should be made available to communities nationwide. In
1994, the Emergency Management Institute (EMI), in cooperation with the
LAFD, expanded the CERT materials to make them applicable to all hazards.
In 2003 the Citizen Corps program was created to spearheaded the effort
to harness the power of every individual 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. CERT was selected as one of the primary
programs offered to the American public to meet this challenge.