California Rep. has ‘Deep Concern' FCC Delaying Disaster Alerts in Multiple Languages
California Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán is calling on the Federal Communications Commission to move ahead with a plan to implement multilingual alerts during natural disasters.
The plan was put on hold by the Trump administration just five months after the deadly fires in Los Angeles, which threatened communities with a high proportion of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, some of whom have limited proficiency in English.
Barragán (D-San Pedro) told FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, she had a "deep concern" that the FCC under the Trump administration has delayed enabling multilingual Wireless Emergency Alerts for severe natural disasters such as wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis.
"This is about saving lives," Barragán told the Los Angeles Times. "You've got about 68 million Americans that use a language other than English and everybody should have the ability to understand these emergency alerts. We shouldn't be looking at any politicization of alerts, certainly not because someone's an immigrant or they don't know English."
"The language you speak shouldn't keep you from receiving the information you or your family need to stay safe," then-FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in January.
"Alert originators can send out multilingual Wireless Emergency Alerts today," an FCC spokesperson said. "Any suggestion to the contrary is both false and risks misleading alert originators that may want to send them out."
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