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July 16, 2024 | Blog

NYC Disaster Relief Preparedness

 

July 16, 2024
By John Gonzalez, Office of Mission

 

The above emergency preparedness conversation with First Deputy Commissioner Christina Farrell and Director of Individual Preparedness Abby Banks discussed the Ready NY and CERT programs for the 20th anniversary. As part of the their presentation they promote their Community Emergency Response Team. CERT members are dedicated volunteers who undergo a training program that provides basic response skills needed for fire safety, light search and rescue, community disaster support, disaster medical operations, and traffic control.

Disaster Relief is an aspect of the community commitment that organizations like Catholic Charities has. This year we have seen that the Hurricane season is particularly strong and as a result we are very attentive to this and promoting emergency preparedness throughout our communities. The “Know Your Zone” page offers essential resources for our NYC communities.

In a recent Care of Creation message Pope Francis reminds us that the poor and marginalized members of our communities tend to be much more succeptible to the impact of natural disasters. “Exposed to the climate crisis,” Pope Francis tells us, “the poor feel even more gravely the impact of the drought, flooding, hurricanes and heat waves that are becoming ever more intense and frequent.” Our Catholic values call us to be attentive to those who do not have the resources to escape or adequately respond to a natural disaster.

Click here to access the NYC Hurricane Evacuation Zone Finder

Knowing that Hurricane and disasters are a real thing for us in NYC it is good to maintain a state of preparedness for any eventuality. At Catholic Charities we have designed a Get Ready page with disaster relief information for the community. The website has an info on making go bags and connecting with Notice NYC. Should a hurricane or other natural disaster happen Catholic Charities will be ready to respond and serve our community. But we should all be prepared and ready to respond as well.