Eastvale Volunteers Prepare For Disaster | EastvaleResidents.com

When Eastvale is at ground zero in a disaster most of us will want to come to the aid of our friends and neighbors – as did the people of Mexico City when a magnitude 8.1 quake struck that community in 1985. Spontaneous volunteers successfully rescued 800 trapped victims, but 100 of the untrained rescuers were killed in the process.

Eastvale resident Kay Hsu practices using a fire extinguisher during CERT training. From that tragic experience a group of California professional emergency responders, including Eastvale’s own “RescueChief” Mike McGroarty, developed the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training program in which volunteers are taught incident command decision making, light search and rescue, triage, fire extinguisher use, and post-disaster psychology skills - so they can aid in disaster response

without risking their lives or the lives of others. In May 2007 the Riverside County Office of Emergency Services conducted CERT training for Jurupa Citizen Corps volunteers (see photos). Eastvale is now home to five CERT members. Hundreds more are needed. Jane Anderson (second from right) and fellow CERT members use leveraging and cribbing to safely rescue a victim trapped by heavy debris. For a quick video overview of CERT, please click here

At 10am on November 13, 2008 all of southern California will participate in our nation’s most ambitious disaster exercise ever – a simulated 7.8 quake on the southern San Andreas fault lasting 2 minutes. Jurupa Citizen Corps is helping community members prepare for the real thing by featuring guest speakers from emergency response agencies and public utility providers at our monthly meetings and promoting disaster skills training. Guest speakers will share what disaster resources they have, how they will communicate, and what they are prepared (and not prepared) to do when a major disaster strikes. They will also offer opportunities for volunteers to learn vital emergency response skills (such as radio communications, shelter operations, mass care and feeding, public health medication distribution, disaster medical assistance, logistics, client casework, building damage assessment, etc.) that will be needed to communicate needs, save lives, care for the injured and displaced, and speed recovery in the critical hours, days, and weeks after disaster strikes.

Jurupa Citizen Corps volunteers Chuck Kuhn, Jane Anderson and Betty Anderson “put themselves on the map” as a first step toward developing a local emergency communications network.

Jurupa Citizen Corps volunteers Chuck Kuhn, Jane Anderson and Betty Anderson “put themselves on the map” as a first step toward developing a local emergency communications network.

The time to learn the skills needed for the post-disaster role(s) you want to play is BEFORE you need them. There will be no time or resources available to train you afterward. If you have a role in mind and/or want to know more, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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1 Comments



Mike Nava March 02, 2008 Votes: +2	Irene, just want to commend you for the work you do and thank you for the article. Very well written. Thanks for the pics you too also! report abuse vote down vote up

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Last Updated ( Sunday, 02 March 2008 18:29 )

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