From what I have heard this is not a usual function for CERT, we did alot of damage assessments in 2007....ohhhhhhhh!!!
I do not see the problem as the forms are pretty much self explanatory they are so simple a 3rd grader could accomplish the task. The big advantage to CERT doing this task though is 1 it frees up the guys on the trucks and 2 it makes the people feel better when they can talk to someone who actually is a normal jo who is trying to help them out. People are very responsive when you tell them you are doing a damage assessment for the city so they can submit for federal reimbursement! Also the use of CERT enables the process to go much faster so people haven’t cleaned up all the stuff and made everything harder for all involved. Typically on damage assessments it’s just the Emergency management doing it and sometimes in a larger incident, some fire company’s or PD. This typically takes a LONG time and exhausts an already strained group of individuals. The bottom line is the damage assessments can be done by CERTs, I think we shocked the pants of the state and FEMA officials when they asked who did it. Ok so now what every one needs to do is go and pester your very own strained individual and tell them that you want to do damage assessments for the next event that occurs!