City College Hosts Emergency Preparedness Event
Words by Susan Thorson
Graphic by Aspasia Celia Tsampas
September 19, 2019
When Ramona Pounce watched Hurricane Katrinadevastate New Orleans in 2005, she immediately thought of her Harlem community.She said, “That could happen to us tomorrow.”So she learned about a new initiative called the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and joined the first crew to serve in Harlem. Fourteenyears later she still works hard to help her neighbors prepare.
Ms. Pounce serves as CERT’s Manhattan BoroughCoordinator and volunteered at the seventh annual Harlem Emergency PreparednessDay held at the CityCollege of New York in Harlem in honor ofNational Preparedness Month.
Every year CERT helps thousands of New Yorkersprepare for emergencies through training, parades, festival information boothsand radio broadcasts. CERT volunteers assist first responders with the Five-BoroughBike Tour and the NYC Marathon. They clear snow around fire hydrants for easyaccess and remove debris from storm drains to prevent flooding. They alwaysneed new volunteers.
A different storm propelledStuart Reid into action. When Hurricane Sandy hit NYC in 2012, Mr. Reiddiscovered a gap in Harlem’s communication. He said, “Often we don’t hearinformation about what’s going on in our community. We might hear aboutdowntown or Staten Island, but what about right here in Harlem? And so we put togetherthe Harlem EmergencyBroadcast Team [Mr.Reid is the director] at WHCR radio to gather information from the field so wecan put it out to the community.” WHCR90.3FM broadcasts fromCity College and provides ongoing preparedness messaging. The radiostation’s emergency response team sponsored the preparedness event.
Representatives from the Red Cross, FDNY, FEMA, Harlem Hospital and Harlem Information Network informed and prepared students and Harlem locals. Christina Farrell with NYC Emergency Management likes this campus event because college students are often new to NYC and unprepared for emergencies. But her organization’s reach is far greater than City College. They offer 900 presentations a year, “wherever people congregate and are interested.” They help people help themselves. One way people can do that is to sign up for NotifyNYC—a free emergency-notification system that provides zip-code specific information through their app, Twitter, smartphones, landlines or email. Ms. Farrell stressed, “It only takes a few minutes to learn how to take a couple of steps. We just want people to be prepared.”
