|TOP|Hundreds of US scholars, field personnel and faith community responders gathered at the Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, New Jersey, over the weekend to take part in a national disaster preparedness forum.

The second national Church World Service Forum on Domestic Disaster Ministry, held Saturday, follows the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina when it struck the Gulf Coast last year. The region remains in the thick of reconstruction 7 months on.

Nationally known disaster response experts and workshop leaders with practical field experience also attended the event where they were able to put their heads together on strategies and planning for worst case scenarios.

The dialogues focused on a number of disaster-related issues including disaster preparedness at the level of the local congregation, meeting the disaster needs of children and youth, preparing for and responding to technological disasters, bioterrorism, public violence and community organising.

|AD|Conference co-planner, Linda Reed Brown, said: “We want disaster professionals and faith leaders to know what interfaith leaders from around the country are already doing around disaster preparedness and where we ought to be going in the light of past and recent disasters.”

The CWS event, the only one of its kind designed for experienced professionals in disaster ministry, brought together a number of faith representatives from the US Protestant, Catholic, Muslim and Jewish communities.

Brown, the Associate Director for Domestic Emergency Response Programmes for Church World Service, said forum planners hoped participants would “create a short list of human security issues that can then be addressed in future preparedness training programmes for local faith-based responders”.

Delegates at the forum looked at new models of community-based and faith-based disaster recovery and also explored national policies and their positive and negative effects on recovery.

"If Katrina taught the nation nothing else," she says, "it was the key and fundamental role that community faith groups play in disaster preparedness and response. It is our desire to ensure that those faith-based groups are as equipped as possible in the face of future emergencies."