SAN DIEGO–The County Office of Emergency Services has been selected by the state to participate in Disaster Corps, a program to standardize and coordinate highly-trained volunteers that will be able to respond to disasters across the state.
“The concept behind this program started after the 2007 wildfires that impacted our county and the rest of Southern California. The state recognized the invaluable role that volunteers played and created a formal program to incorporate volunteers into the state emergency plan,” said Ron Lane, Director of the County Office of Emergency Services.
The County of San Diego is among five founding members of Disaster Corps that will receive $1.15 million in federal homeland security funding through CaliforniaVolunteers, the state office that coordinates volunteer activities related to disaster response and recovery. The other recipients are Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Francisco counties.
Disaster Corps volunteers will be registered by their local government organization and will meet Disaster Corps training, typing, certification and security screening guidelines, allowing the volunteers to respond to any disaster in the state.
The funds will be used for the initial implementation of the program, which will support training and credentialing for 1,000 members as well as a volunteer coordinator in each of the five counties.
For more information about disaster preparedness in San Diego County, visit www.ReadySanDiego.org.
