Disaster Preparedness and Response
Nobody needs to ask “Why have a Disaster Preparedness Team in our park”? The answer is pretty obvious. The problem is getting park residents to be proactive, and in finding volunteer leaders.
A Disaster Preparedness team needs to educate – that is the main function. Providing residents with information and resources on how to prepare for various emergencies is the best way your team can help. Whether or not your team also deals with the Response part of it is a question that many DP teams have been asking themselves.
Management in most parks will usually choose not to participate in any response to a disaster other than that which affects its own property. This is primarily for liability reasons. For the same reasons, many DP teams also choose to limit their participation to educating residents on preparedness. Other teams might send a few of their members to CERT training (see below). Your team will need to decide what their policies will be.
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) program educates volunteers in basic disaster response skills—such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and first-aid medical operations—to safely help themselves, their families, and neighbors when professional responders are overwhelmed. Administered by FEMA, this initiative trains residents to provide immediate, on-the-ground support during emergencies. The program might be administered by the local Fire Department.
In 2026, GSMOL is hoping to form an advisory group made up of members whose park has a DP Team. The function of this group will be to help Chapters and members in other parks form a DP Team of their own and learn what they need to do in order to be able to prepare residents for the likelihood of a major fire, earthquake, flood, or other disaster. If your park has a DP Team, we would like to hear from you! Send an email to DPT@gsmol.org !
CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Training
