That's one of the ideas of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT / NERT). During the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, citizens banded together and helped each o

That's one of the ideas of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT / NERT). During the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, citizens banded together and helped each other other because emergency services were overwhelmed. Afterwards, they reached out to the fire department to ask for formal training and thus NERT (Neighborhood Emergency Response Team) was born. When the next big earthquake hits California, we still won't be ready. However if neighbors pitch in and can put out small fires and shut off gas leaks before they turn into anything more serious, then that's one less neighborhood the fire department has on their to-do list. I highly recommend anyone in earthquake country to take a NERT/CERT class to help out their neighborhood. NERT: http://sf-fire.org/neighborhood-emergency-response-team-nert http://sf-fire.org/neighborhood-emergency-response-team-nert CERT: https://www.ready.gov/community-emergency-response-team https://www.ready.gov/community-emergency-response-team