National Disaster Management Centre (NDMC) has begun establishing Community Emergency Response Teams in efforts to scale up the national capacity for disaster risk reduction and management in the Maldives.
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) programme will educate volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area, according to NDMC. Under the programme, teams would be trained in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations.
NDMC aims to offer a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization that professional responders can rely on during disaster situations, which allows CERT to focus on more complex tasks. CERT will be prepared to respond to and recover from disasters, revealed NDMC.
Furthermore, disaster management center added that under the programme the institution will establish one CERT team in each island.
NDMC has conducted CERT trainings in 4 islands within the first three months of the year.