CVAN

The events of World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001, and more recently Hurricane Katrina, have heightened public awareness of the need for a comprehensive emergency preparedness and disaster relief system that includes the frail elderly, disabled and homebound persons. While first responders such as fire, police and medical personnel focus on high priority areas, these populations may be left to survive on their own without power for at least 72 hours.

CVAN is a grassroots neighbor to neighbor support system that provides communications, education and support during a disaster when there is a total loss of power and normal communications as a result of a natural disaster or major emergency.

Working with a network of service providers as well as the City of Torrance Office of Emergency Services, members of CVAN;

Identify high risk populations in their neighborhoods
Help address the needs for community disaster preparedness through workshops and education programs aimed at community based organizations
Operate a neighborhood Amateur Radio network that can communicate with the City’s Emergency Operating Center (EOC)

No one can predict when an emergency will occur and therefore it is important that each homeowner and or association be prepared. CVAN volunteers meet with household members and associations to discuss the dangers of fire, severe weather, earthquakes, and other emergencies. They help develop plans and identify supplies needed in an emergency.

Communications is key to survival for many of the elderly living within the community. CVAN coordinates with the local Amateur Radio community, Neighborhood Watch, and volunteers to provide a communications network that can focus local resource in the aid of these individuals.

While traditional Amateur Radio emergency organizations support police and fire during the first hours or days of an emergency, CVAN’s goal during this period is to support the neighborhoods. The City of Torrance with a population of 142,000 has over 1000 licensed Amateur Radio operators. Only 100 of these are involved in the Torrance Amateur Radio Association (TARA). TARA’s goal is to provide back up emergency communications for the City’s fire and police departments. During an emergency they man the City’s emergency centers located around the city and a Communications Center located at the City’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC).

CVAN’s focus is on the remaining 900 licensed Amateur Radio operators living within the neighborhoods, soliciting their support in aid of their neighbors during an emergency. Where licensed operators are not available within a neighborhood, CVAN volunteers work with the local amateur radio clubs to license new operators. CVAN also provides training for these operators.

The lessons of Katrina and the World Trade Center are simple: (1) Proper individual preparedness can save lives, (2) Neighbors are more likely to be the first contacts with individuals in their community following an earthquake or other natural or man-made catastrophic event, (3) All disasters are first and foremost local disasters. CVAN has evolved into a first contact neighbor-to-neighbor program providing a level of disaster readiness from the bottom up. The program provides several essential City benefits beyond the basic educational awareness for the need for emergency preparedness. It invigorates the City’s Neighborhood Watch program by expanding its role beyond security into emergency preparedness. Second, as new and old Amateur Radio operators become more involved in emergency communications, they eventually become candidates for TARA and the Los Angeles County’s Disaster Communications Service (DCS).

CVAN is a win-win program for the individuals that will be ultimately helped, the City of Torrance and the County of Los Angeles.