By Mary Nguyen
Editing by Chyelle Milgrom
(This investigative report is made possible with the support of the Institute for Nonprofit News)
“I just worry about the fire because it is near the church and a lot of my friends live around there,” said Wan Wongpetkiew, a congregation member of the Thai Outreach Church in Pasadena.
Wan Wongpetkiew is always looking out for her fellow church members at Thai Outreach Church in Pasadena.
The congregation was finally able to meet for service after they had to evacuate the area a month ago.
Many were able to get out of harm’s way due to Wan’s urgent calls—including Ann Punchai.
The 65 year old did not know she needed to leave her Montrose home. She received emergency text messages in English on her cell phone but did not understand the messages because she only speaks Thai.
Then as the wildfires raged- Ann said the smoke in her neighborhood became unbearable. Smoke was seeping into her home so she put towels around the windows and doors. She also wore a mask.
Ann told us in Thai- unable to communicate in English -she felt helpless. In addition, she had been in her home for 24 hours without electricity because of a power outage.
Wan became concerned for Ann and reached out.
“Did you get the news about need to evacuate,” Wan recalls asking Ann. “She just woke up and she knew nothing. Ann was just crying that day.”
“I couldn’t think of anything at that time,” Ann said through a translator. “I was scared. I cried. Thinking… what should I do? Who will I live with? I was in shock.”
Luckily Ann packed a bag and left her home.
We contacted officials and asked why emergency alert warnings and text messages were only available in a couple of languages. The county and city responded.
“At this time, Wireless Emergency Alerts are limited to only English and Spanish due to the system limitations of the Integrated Alert and Warning System maintained by FEMA,” the county said in a statement. “These alerts are only one of several means of notifying residents to evacuate their homes during an emergency.
“Our response also includes …messaging platform and door knocks or first responders with loudspeakers driving up and down streets messaging the need to take protective action. “
Ann said no one knocked on her door.
We asked California governor’s office of emergency services and why there is a lack of multilingual emergency text messages.
CAL OES released this statement:
“While Cal OES plays an important coordinating role, it is the responsibility of local governments to operate their own alert and warning systems… we’d like to direct you to Los Angeles City and County.
“We want to make sure you are aware that the Disaster Recovery Centers currently open in Los Angeles and Altadena provide digital materials and information in multiple languages to help vulnerable populations recover.”
However, Ann did try to apply for benefits, (sound of dialing phone and answer in Spanish), but she couldn’t get through and became frustrated. So she gave up.
A FEMA spokesperson said they’re looking into the situation.
A spokesperson with AAPI Equity Alliance says there are more languages than just Thai. Many other Asian languages are also affected.
“That is something that we are really looking into now is like who within the county system can be accountable for this and share information. We know not every language is gonna be made available and certainly not to 10 million people, but how can we triage to make sure people do get the right information.”
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
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