The University Police Department (UPD), in conjunction with Tangipahoa Parish, hosted a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) class in the University Center. The class is part of an eight part, 16-hour class that is designed to train citizens on how to handle any kind of catastrophe.
The class, held on Tuesday, Sept. 13, gave citizens the opportunity to learn the proper ways to handle disasters in order to become the first responders for their community.
“The main goal is to prepare people for a disaster,” said Sgt. Chris Durham of UPD.
According to Durham, the original idea for CERT was created by the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) in 1985. The concept centered on the notion that citizens would likely be on their own immediately after a disaster.
“After the 1987 earthquake in California, a lot of people spontaneously volunteered,” Sgt. Durham said about the origins of CERT. “A lot of the volunteers got hurt because they had no