Disaster and Emergency Response Team of Maryland (D.E.R.T. /MD)
About DERT
The Disaster and Emergency Response Team of Maryland (D.E.R.T. /MD) is formed of people throughout the Diocese whose leadership role is to coordinate efforts in response to actual disasters and needs. Their purpose is to:
- Be the liaison between organizations such as Episcopal Relief and Development, volunteers for the Maryland Defense Force, and governmental and non-governmental response agencies, for the dissemination of information, needs and resources.
- Work proactively to gather and compile parish resources that could be made available to those affected by any kind of disaster. This information would be placed, and kept up to date, on a Diocesan website that is open to all.
- Work proactively to provide or encourage training, certification and credentialing of appropriate people within each parish.
- Encourage parishes to develop their own disaster preparedness plan; members of the Committee would be available for guidance as and when needed.
- Provide chaplains for first-responders, as well as provide on-scene chaplain assistance. A Diocesan wide prayer chain might also be part of the spiritual dimension of our work.
72 hours in Locust Point
A lesson in knowing your assets
By the Rev. Annette Chappell, rector of Church of the Redemption, Locust Point
Locust Point in Baltimore is an established blue-collar urban neighborhood, now beginning to gentrify. It is self-contained because of being on a peninsula, with only three access roads, and the major access road is currently blocked by a bridge project. There are 1200+ dwelling units, mostly small row houses, but some apartments. Also small neighborhood stores, restaurants and bars. Of the three neighborhood churches, Redemption’s parish hall is by far the largest; as is the parking lot.
On a clear November (2011) morning, the contractor working on the bridge project in the Locust Point neighborhood of Baltimore, hit the 12-inch gas main. In the 72-hours between the line being breached and gas service being restored, BGE had to seal off the broken main, go into every house and business in the neighborhood and turn off the gas at the meter, purge the gas lines in the neighborhood, connect to a different main (fortunately they have a grid system rather than linear), test the lines again to make sure no leaks, and then go into every house and business to turn the gas on at the meter, light all pilots, and insure no indoor leaks. That's a lot of work, and a lot of going up and down basement steps.
As of midnight three days later, nearly every house and business in Locust Point had been reconnected safely. The local utility company, BGE, and its affiliates from here to NY, got the job done swiftly and safely! Church of the Redemption played an important role in that process.
A parishioner on the only block that still had gas service (because they have already been connected to the new high-pressure line) offered her house for anyone needing a place to warm up or shower.
I asked the civic association to put out an e-mail blast asking people to check at least daily on elderly neighbors (who are much more vulnerable to cold temps and lack of cooking facilities).
After that, I didn't have to "do" so much as be available to give permission:
- BGE called and asked if they could hold a community meeting that Tuesday night in our parish hall. Of course, I said yes. That meeting went very well.
- In the morning after they had all houses' and businesses' gas turned off at the meters, BGE said our boiler room was ideally situated to do the next job, which was to purge the gas lines, so they worked all day and evening in our boiler room and the alley behind it.
- As people began to come home from work, BGE asked if they could park their vehicles in our lot, so people wouldn't feel that all the precious on-street parking was gobbled by the team.
Lessons learned
For this particular disaster, our most important assets were a big parish hall with enough chairs to accommodate 120 or so people; a boiler room situated on the alley and with the right size gas valves; a 32-car parking lot; and me living next door so I was quickly available to give permission and unlock things.
Until the emergency occurs, you don't know exactly which assets will be needed and how they will be used. (E.g., the parish hall was used for a community meeting, not for sleeping or feeding people, both of which might be appropriate in other emergencies.) The only asset I didn't already know was an asset was the boiler room, with its combination of the right kind of valves and proximity to the pipeline in the alley. In another situation, none of those might be important assets, so the real lesson is that since every emergency may require different assets and skills, the most important asset is flexibility.
Take the DERT Survey
Are you ready? Take the DERT Survey.
About DERT/MD
In 2003 Hurricane Isabel slammed into Maryland leaving behind in its wake flooding, property damage, long-term power outages and injuries. In the winter of 2010 we experienced record-breaking snowfalls, resulting in many people being homebound without power until snowplows could reach their streets.
In July 2001 a CSX freight train derailed 11 cars in the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore. Eight different agencies responded to this accident, including the Baltimore City Fire Department, Maryland Department of the Environment Hazardous Materials specialists and Baltimore Department of Public Works. Countless emergency responders and others worked around the clock. The water main break and resulting hazardous materials fire, which burned for five days, closed downtown Baltimore for days and the immediate area was affected for weeks.
Beyond our own diocese there are disasters both natural and man-made - tornadoes, flooding, coal mine explosions, oil spills, earthquakes, school shootings and more. Each of us responds as best we can or is left to ask: What could I have done to help?
To answer that question, and to prepare for future disasters, the diocese has formed a disaster preparedness and response leadership team and is forming a volunteer network in association with Episcopal Relief and Development. Bishop Sutton fully endorses these efforts.
The leadership team, Disaster Emergency Response Team of Maryland (DERT/MD), was approved as a committee of Diocesan Council in Dec. 2010. Working with Sharon Tillman, diocesan disaster coordinator, the team consists of people throughout the diocese who are already doing this work and those who want to get involved. This team is being trained by Episcopal Relief and Development to respond to churches and ministries in need following a local disaster. We are working toward coordinating our efforts with those already on the front lines, including VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters), American Red Cross, religious organizations, government and non-government agencies, and others to respond to larger needs.
Creating a volunteer network of responders, relief workers and long-term recovery teams is the second step. It is with the help of DERT/MD that this network is being developed and then linked to similar lists in other dioceses. Known as Ready to Serve, this effort is being coordinated by Katie Mears, program manager for domestic disaster preparedness and response for ER-D. To join this network and learn more about Ready to Serve visit http://www.er-d.org/Volunteer/.
Sharon Tillman
Diocesan Disaster Coordinator and Diocesan Director of Communications
410-467-1399, 800-443-1399 or stillman@episcopalmaryland.org
DERT/MD Co-Chairs:
The Rev. Sue Oldfather
Carl Pelton
DERT/MD Committee Members:
The Rev. Janice Gordon Barnes
The Rev. Tom Carter
The Rev. Annette Chappell
Ms. Jenifer Johnson
Ms. Ellie Lopez
The Rev. Joanna White
Ms. Cynthia Willis
Episcopal Relief and Development
www.er-d.org
Katie Mears
Program Manager for Domestic Disaster Preparedness and Response
kmears@er-d.org
US Disaster Program
Alison Hare
ahare@er-d.org
Contact Sharon Tillman to learn more about DERT/MD and the Ready to Serve program, or to receive assistance in the wake of a crisis, disaster or emergency.