October 15 Set for NERT DrillNeighborhood Emergency Response Team

October and April are San Francisco's earthquake months. Of course, we don't know in what month the next one will come, but the last three major quakes to hit the Bay area were in April of 1906 and October of 1868 and 1989. So October is a good time to remember that we live with earthquakes and need to prepare for them. After the 1989 quake, the San Francisco Fire Department realized that preparation for the next earthquake (or other catastrophic event) has to include the training of citizen volunteers. Thus was born San Francisco's Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT). nert

Since 1989, the SF Fire Department has trained thousands of NERT volunteers to assist in the response by knowing how to provide basic assistance to themselves, their families, and their neighborhoods when the next major disaster strikes our city. To maintain their readiness, NERT members participate in city-wide drills each April and October. This month, on October 15, neighborhood NERT teams will set up staging areas at several locations throughout the city and conduct a drill to practice and sharpen the skills they learned when they originally took their NERT training. Several NERT teams in the Sunset area will be conducting a drill at the Sunset Square playground (27th and Vicente) from 8:30 AM to 1 PM on that day. Participating teams include: Clarendon Heights-Forest Knolls-Midtown Terrace-Twin Peaks, Ingleside Terraces, Inner Sunset, Laguna Honda, Mt. Davidson-Miraloma Park, San Francisco State University, Sunset-Parkside, St. Francis Woods, and West Portal-Inner Parkside. All NERT volunteers are invited and urged to participate in this drill.

More information about the NERT program, including schedules for upcoming free NERT training classes, are available on the NERT website

Joe Humphreys, NERT volunteer: joehum@gmail.com

October 2011

 

Earthquake Awareness MonthOld Photo of City Hall after 1906 earthquake


The San Francisco Fire Department’s Neighborhood Emergency Response Team of the Sunset-Parkside along with teams from the Richmond, Presidio Heights, Lake Merced Hill, Midtown Terrace, St. Francis Woods and West Portal will be holding their annual earthquake search-and-rescue exercise at the West Sunset Playground at 39th and Ortega St. on Saturday, Oct 18th from 9AM to Noon. All NERT graduates are welcome to practice with us, and to bring your HAM radios if you have an FCC license. If you are interested in being a part of this vital volunteer group, you are welcome to come and see how we will help the community after the Big Quake hits San Francisco! For more information, go to their webpage.