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Residents of Beaufort County and surrounding areas will soon have a chance to learn about how they can help their communities be better prepared for hurricanes and similar disasters.

On Saturday, Feb. 26, The Wilkinson Center in Belhaven will host a Community Emergency Response Training presentation that will begin at 3 p.m. and last about an hour. The presentation is free to attend and is open to the public, including residents of Beaufort, Hyde, Washington counties and other local areas. If there is enough interest in the program, the state will offer CERT training locally.

The CERT program is offered by North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

“The Community Emergency Response Team program educates volunteers about disaster preparedness for the hazards that may impact their area, and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations,” a description of the program reads. “CERT offers a consistent, nationwide approach to volunteer training and organization the professional responders can rely on during disaster situations.”

“As you know, our area is particularly prone to hurricanes (though we can also be subject to other disasters),” Cris Noble, a pastor at Trinity United Methodist Church, said in an email. “ While most residents have some experience with these things, I believe there is much room for improving our preparedness.  State and local officials do a great job, but many individuals remain little or unprepared, and very few are able to help others during such events.  We lost our home in Hurricane Floyd (1999) and, while we survived, it would have been great to have had some training for such an event.”