CVAN ~ Community Volunteer Alert Network

The tragedies of the World Trade Center, hurricane Katrina, and more recently the massive earthquakes and floods in China and Myanmar have heightened public awareness and need for a comprehensive emergency preparedness educational program that includes the frail elderly, disabled and homebound persons. While first responders such as fire, police and medical personnel focus on high priority areas, the frail elderly, disabled and homebound populations may be left to survive on their own without power or telephones for up to a week or more.

CVAN is an independent grassroots neighbor-to-neighbor program under the auspices of RSVP of South Bay that provides education on emergency preparedness to the general public.

Members of CVAN:

No one can predict when an emergency will occur and therefore it is important that each homeowner and/or neighborhood association be prepared. CVAN volunteers meet with neighbors and associations to discuss disaster preparedness within their own homes, families and neighborhoods. They help develop plans and identify supplies needed in an emergency.

The lessons of China, hurricane 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 a catastrophic event, and
(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 to better equip and educate neighborhoods to communicate within their communities and to live independently for a week or more without outside assistance.