Community Emergency Response Network
Howard County, Maryland
Atlantic
Hurricane Season runs from June 1 - November 1.
Learn more about preparing for weather-related
disasters in
our Shelter in Place section.
Welcome
We now know that as United States citizens, we need to be prepared in the event of a terrorist attack, no matter where we live. The same applies to major natural disasters, both meteorological or medical.As residents of Howard County, Maryland, we have unique reasons to be prepared.
Located just outside of Washington, DC and near major communications infrastructure and military bases, Howard Countians need to know what their options are in the unlikely event of an attack. Likewise, the county's population needs to be prepared in the event of a major health emergency. This can be caused by population dislocation in the wake of a hurricane or following the onset of a humanly transmittable pandemic flu.
This is why Howard County's Community Emergency Response Network (CERN) has been created. CERN's mission is to facilitate the development of a community-based disaster response plan for Howard County to ensure optimum preparedness in the advent of a terrorist attack. CERN supports the County government's disaster planning through the coordination of the emergency plans and resources of our participating members.
Pandemic Preparedness
In recent months, governments and health care experts have become increasingly concerned about the potential for a global flu pandemic, and the serious risks to individuals and communities such a pandemic would pose. Local communities, like Howard County, will need to be prepared to respond to a pandemic. As one expert has said, the pandemic will be global, but the response will be local.In the anticipation of such a disaster, the Howard County community is mobilizing to prepare, with the Howard County Health Department, Howard County General Hospital and CERN in the lead. This section of the CERN website provides detailed information related to pandemic preparedness. It also includes references to national sites containing more facts about pandemic influenza.