From January 26-30, Dr. Hiromasa Yamamoto of Osaka City University in Osaka, Japan, visited Washington DC as a client of IIGR. His purpose was to attend Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training and to learn about Citizen Corps Councils and related programs for community disaster education and preparedness in the United States.
Every evening from Monday January 26 through Friday January 30, Dr. Yamamoto, accompanied by Leo Bosner of IIGR, attended the DC Government’s CERT training class. The training concentrated on emergency basics such as first aid, how to use a fire extinguisher, Incident Command System (ICS), etc., followed by a tabletop exercise on the last evening of the class. The class had about 25 participants, all adult students from various jobs and fields.
In addition to attending the CERT training, Dr. Yamamoto also visited:
• The IIGR office in Bethesda, Maryland to meet IIGR staff and learn about our work.
• The Washington DC office of the National Association of County and City Health Officials to learn about the Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) program.
• The Washington DC Municipal Government HQ to learn about the administration of CERT and related programs.
Dr. Yamamoto successfully completed the CERT training, and he has received an official Certificate of Completion from the DC Mayor’s Office of Volunteerism. Dr. Yamamoto hopes to use what he learned here to strengthen community disaster education programs in Osaka.