Berkeley Practices for the Big Quake on April 27

From a City of Berkeley press release:

On April 27, Berkeley citizens in all degrees of readiness will react in a community-wide disaster exercise. In the course of the Saturday morning exercise, community members will be practicing disaster response skills aimed at preparing for a major earthquake, with focuses on both individual and neighborhood readiness.

“Any community group or individual can participate in this exercise, it’s not just for CERT groups,” said Berkeley Interim Fire Chief Gil Dong.“This exercise is designed to provide all of us an opportunity to bolster our emergency preparedness and it also gives the City and the community a chance to work together to practice disaster response in Berkeley neighborhoods.” 

If you’re an individual:
      • Ensure everyone in your family has easy access to each other’s phone numbers;
      • Communicate with your out-of-area contact;
      • Sign up for an exercise text message from the Berkeley Emergency Notification System
        (BENS);
      • Listen for important exercise information on 1610 AM; and
      • Visit www.cityofberkeley.info/quake for more ideas about how to prepare for a disaster.

If you’re a neighborhood group or organization:
      • Visit the exercise web page for information about the exercise;
      • Download the Participant Handbook, which provides details on how to participate;
      • Register your group as an official exercise participant;
      • Demonstrate effective communications within your neighborhood and with the City
      Go directly to the 2012 Berkeley CERT exercise page.

About Berkeley CERT: In a catastrophic disaster, government resources (people and supplies) may not be available in every neighborhood for several days following the event. The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program provides education in disaster preparedness and provides training in basic emergency skills. Curriculum includes basic disaster preparedness, fire safety, disaster medical operations, search and rescue and more. 

Berkeley CERT approaches community preparedness through three key components: Response, Training, and Volunteering. Looking at the community's role even before a disaster, citizens must take steps to respond to their own needs for training. Community members plug into preparedness by working on program development, as volunteer trainers, as subject matter experts and as community volunteer responders.

For more information, visit Berkeley CERT's webpage at  www.CityofBerkeley.info/CERT. Residents with questions about participation can contact Khin Chin at (510) 981-5506 or kchin@CityofBerkeley.info.