A new UCLA study released this week shows that Asian communities affected by the recent fires in Los Angeles County have difficulty accessing information about emergency evacuation and recovery efforts due to language barriers I understand.
Over 12,000 of the 50,000 Asian immigrants live within four evacuation zones, as this study is part of a series of research examining the impact of wildfires on various racial and ethnic groups in the county. It turns out that more than 12,000 people in the area need language assistance. The Fire Zones are Palisade, Eaton, Hurst and Hughes.
The group accounts for 15% of the total population in these four areas, but researchers say the data refers to a lack of multilingual communication alerts on fire warnings, evacuation procedures and relief services.
“These language needs are part of the broader challenges of Los Angeles County, with over half a million Asian Americans classified as limited English proficiency,” the study said. I’ve read some of it.
Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of the Asian American and Pacific Island Equity Alliance, a coalition of 50 community-based organizations, said in a complaint he heard from residents that the fire warning was sent only in English and Spanish. I did.
She said some residents avoided the evacuation centre because they had no interpreters to assist them, while others complained that they could not find online information about the fires in their native language.
“We saw no one else doing that, so we put together a resource guide in multiple languages on its own,” Kulkarni said. “It is available in English, traditional and simplified Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Thai and Vietnamese. It contains information on shelter, housing and childcare.
Resource guides are available on the AAPI Equity Alliance website.
In a written statement to the Times, LA County’s coordinated joint information center is tasked with releasing public information in emergencies, but alerts are subject to limiting systems for integrated alerts and warning systems. said it is limited to English and Spanish. Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“These alerts are just one of several ways to notify residents to evacuate their homes in emergencies,” county officials said. “Our responses include using the Alert LA County Messaging Platform, door knocks, or the first responder with speakers driving down the street.”
County officials said its disaster resource centre also includes multilingual staff and county material translated in multiple languages, including Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
“Many social media messages from LA County accounts are posted regularly in multiple languages, including Korean and Chinese,” the statement read.
County officials said coming this Wednesday, the Board of Supervisors’ weekly report will be available in more than 60 languages through a real-time language translation service.
Researchers and Asian American advocates praise the efforts, but they are made up of various ethnic groups who speak their language, so they assess the language needs of Asian communities with county officials. It is still urged.
As part of the study, researchers approached the diversity of these communities in four evacuation zones by using data from the US census and elementary schools to develop profiles of people living there. Ta.
The findings of this study show that the Asian languages commonly spoken in four regions are Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese. However, there are dozens of other languages, including Cantonese, Thai, Punjabi and Hindi.
The researchers found that older people over the age of 45 were more likely to have limited English proficiency or a higher percentage of LEP.
This study shows that the Palisade fire area has the highest percentage of LEP Asians, followed by people living in Eton evacuation zones, which have a large portion of the Asian population.
Chhandara Pech, researcher and assistant director at UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, highlights why the findings need to be more accurate in the information government officials are distributing to their neighborhoods.
“Institutions should not only focus on reaching the largest population affected by wildfires, but also prioritize supporting the most vulnerable and difficult to reach communities,” Peck said.
The fourth study in the series is a further reminder of the ongoing efforts to coordinate emergency preparation and response plans to meet the needs of vulnerable groups such as immigrants, poor people, elderly people, and disabled people. .
Two years after the 2017 fire, California took a more serious approach in addressing these issues by launching a state program called Listos California. Playing an important role in distributing information during the pandemic, the program has helped prepare vulnerable communities for major disasters by partnering with community groups and local governments.
Kulkarni hopes that county officials will do the same, especially when dealing with language barriers that appear to exist in the county’s emergency response plans.
“Language is a key component of providing resources and services,” says Kulkarni. “And while a lot of these responsibilities are the government, [it] We know the needs, so we need to partner with what we can and that. ”
“Let’s do this right,” she continued. “Let’s be a partner and make sure we meet the needs of these people.”
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