A major earthquake resulted in numerous casualties in a “moderately damaged” building in Morgan Hill last weekend. Emergency search and communications volunteers mobilized, alongside the professionals, to locate the injured and trapped victims inside—some of them covered in blood and screaming for help—and determine who needed to be treated first. Once safely outside, the casualties were separated according to the severity of their injuries so that medics could begin treating them and stabilizing those who were quickly losing blood or unable to breathe normally.
At least that was the scenario for a training exercise and final test for the Morgan Hill Community Emergency Response Team June 28 at the city and school district’s corporation yard on Edes Court.
After an eight-week training course conducted by emergency services offices in South County, about 22 volunteers from Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin participated in the multiple-casualty disaster drill to put what they have learned to the test. After passing the final exam, the CERT graduates were sworn in as emergency volunteers by Morgan Hill City Clerk Irma Torrez.
CERT volunteers learn disaster and emergency response techniques in order to ensure their families and homes are safe in the event of a disaster, and to assist first-line police, firefighters and paramedics when such an incident happens.
“When an earthquake hits, we need to help people as quickly as possible,” said Gilroy CERT team leader Colin Tanner, who helped coordinate the drill and evaluate the volunteers’ response. “The whole course is really about safety.”
The volunteers are on call 24 hours a day, and will be crucial in bringing safety and stability to neighborhoods when there is a major earthquake or other disaster locally. Although Gilroy and Morgan Hill have separate CERT teams, they train together, alongside professionals from both cities’ fire departments.
“We’re going to be very isolated down here in South County,” Ponce said. “So we leverage our resources. We can all learn from each other.”
Saturday’s drill was the first time the new graduates were exposed to “the practical side” of their training, Tanner said. “I’ve never seen a more cohesive group than this.”
CERT volunteer and Morgan Hill resident Sherry Purser explained that the “victims” — volunteers who were dressed with makeup to simulate gruesome injuries — each carried a card describing their injuries. CERT members had to act as a team to “triage” the victims by determining how to treat them, and which ones to treat first.
“Then they go back in and extricate them, and take them to the medical tent,” which was set up just outside the damaged building, Purser said. The most concerning injuries in a disaster generally involve heavy bleeding, loss of breath and shock.
City of Santa Clara Fire Engineer Jon Boucher, who was present as a coordinator for the June 28 exercise, said the volunteers’ mission in such a large-scale disaster is “to bring some order from the chaos.”
Graduates typically continue to train with CERT and professional coordinators from South County fire departments and emergency services offices. The longer they do so, the more they learn and the more they can help.
“We learn things I would never have thought about,” said Gilroy resident Judy Livingston, who signed up for CERT based on a friend’s experience in the program. “It was really helpful.”
South County jurisdictions also offer a teen CERT program for local high school students who can use their training and participation as community service hours, Ponce explained. Anyone over the age of 13 can join CERT if accompanied by a parent.
“It’s very engaging across all generations,” explained Gilroy resident Suzanne Demarest, who started training with CERT last year. She joined the program with her son, who was 19 at the time.
The next Morgan Hill CERT class starts in the fall, but the dates have not yet been set, Ponce said. The next teen CERT will take place at the Centennial Recreation Center July 15 to 18.
CERT training is free. Unrelated to that program, the city also offers a monthly 2.5-hour emergency preparedness class the first Monday of every month at the Morgan Hill Police station, Ponce added.
“We don’t turn anyone away,” Ponce said.
To get involved in CERT or any other local emergency preparedness volunteer efforts, contact Ponce by email at [email protected] or visit the CERT website at mhcert.com.
