Community Emergency Response Teams are an example of:

Community Emergency Response Teams are an example of:

A. Local coordinating structures

B. Federal coordinating structures

C. Regional coordinating structures

D. State coordinating structures

Answer: A. Local coordinating structures

Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) are volunteer groups working at local level and designed to be the community’s first line of defense in times of emergency. They could also be described as the community organizers of emergency preparedness and response efforts. Thus, these less usually significantly sized groups of functionaries are performed only by the government offices that have resources like fire departments or emergency management offices.

The CERT unit members are basic trained in the various areas which include among others; fire safety, light rescue and rescue, team organization and medical operations among others. They are formidable for their contribution to communities by working closely with first responders, they can swiftly deliver assistance to the vulnerable, and they plays a pivotal role in community-level response efforts .

The fact that Community Emergency Response Teams come under the umbrella of local coordinating mechanisms, as they operate at the level of local communities or municipalities, means that they are an integral part of the operations of county, region or the national disaster management structures.