While the options available for broadcasting emergency information has grown significantly over the years, for groups where large numbers of people may not be fully fluent in English, not much has changed. An outreach program in California is working to change that, by offering disaster recovery and preparedness training and other services in a wide variety of languages.
Co-chaired by Karen Baker, who is also one of the architects, Listos California is looking to provide information and training to Latinos and other groups who may be vulnerable to major disasters. Says Baker, “We know that people who are socially isolated or live in poverty, have language barriers, or other access or functional needs challenges need to be the top priority for preparedness campaigns.”
While historically focused on response to natural disasters, the program has also extended itself to communicate information around the COVID-19 pandemic, in both the form of billboards in predominantly Latino areas, and safety and information guides in a variety of languages, including Chinese, Korean, and Tagalog, among others. Says Baker of the shift in focus, “What was happening was that people were dying of this thing called COVID … and when you looked at the data and saw diverse communities getting hit even harder than less diverse ones — it was more of a call to action.”
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