Olathe, KS — Michael D. Brown, Under Secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, has announced the availability of $19 million in grant money to train citizens to be better prepared to respond to emergency situations in their communities through local Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT). Brown made the announcement at a meeting with CERT members from the cities of Olathe, Overland Park, Leawood, and Merriam, KS and from Johnson County government, who assisted first responders after tornadoes devastated areas of Kansas earlier this month.
Each CERT member completes 20 hours of training on disaster preparedness, basic disaster medical operations, fire safety, light search and rescue, and other essential topics. The training also includes a disaster simulation in which participants practice skills they learned throughout the course. In the event of an emergency, CERT members can provide immediate assistance to victims, assist in organizing spontaneous volunteers at a disaster site and provide critical support to first responders.
“Through the CERT program, citizens are better able to respond to an emergency or disaster,” said Brown. “This is an essential way for citizens to help secure the homeland by supporting the work of our professional first responders.”
赠款代表可用于扩大证书计划的03财年资金，除了通过02财年补充拨款分配的1700万美元。联邦紧急事务管理局（FEMA）将根据通过《爱国者法》开发的公式向每个州和地区的州和地方证书计划分配资金。证书赠款将允许各州资助新计划并扩大现有团队。FEMA的目标是在未来两年内通过CERT计划培训40万公民。
CERT is a component of Citizen Corps, a community-based initiative to engage citizens in homeland security and community and family preparedness through public education and outreach, training opportunities, and volunteer service.
For more information on the CERT program, visitwww.fema.gov和www.citizencorps.gov.
