What would happen if New York were hit by a hurricane like Katrina? An organization has been established to prepare for such a situation.

Civil Aid Services, a mostly Chinese-American volunteer emergency response and community-policing group, “seeks to train people who can work with government agencies and help deal with an emergency” such as a natural disaster or terrorist attack, its commissioner, William Colton, said. Mr. Colton represents the Bensonhurst and Gravesend neighborhoods of Brooklyn in the state Assembly.

Recent natural disasters – and, of course, the attacks of September 11, 2001 – demonstrate the need for trained civilian groups, he said, adding that the organization would also be useful in a smaller emergency, such as a blackout or a blizzard, and in “dealing with the security issues and other problems that arise in day-to-day life in a city in which millions of people live.”

Members of the group will initially receive training in fire safety and how to conduct search-and-rescue and disaster-related medical operations through FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Team program.

The group has also enlisted a retired New York policeman to give advice and training. “This will be a high-performance society,” Robert Abraham, who was an NYPD inspector for 40 years, said.

The group’s training adviser, Hashi Moto, said he has experience in security and VIP protection. It is based on an organization in Hong Kong of the same name that has assisted that city’s police and fire departments since 1952. One of the founders of its New York equivalent, David Yeung, said he conceived of the New York organization while working as an auxiliary policeman.

“Most of our seniors have been trained and have been servicing in Hong Kong,” Mr. Yeung said, adding that the two groups were communicating with each other but are not related.

Civil Aid Services will provide assistance in the neighborhoods its members live in, including Chinatown, Koreatown, Flushing, and parts of Brooklyn, Mr. Moto said.

“We’re looking to serve not just the Asian-American community, but the whole community, which is part of why I was asked to be commissioner,” Mr. Colton said. He added that “people with language difficulties might have special problems in an emergency, and we can meet those.

“Eventually there will be an emergency of such magnitude,” he added in a hushed tone. “This program will be saving lives.”