Latest news with #WirelessEmergencyAlerts
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
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."
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's FCC delays multilingual emergency alerts for natural disasters, sparking concern in L.A.
California Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán urged the Federal Communications Commission on Monday to follow through on plans to modernize the federal emergency alert system and provide multilingual alerts in natural disasters for residents who speak a language other than English at home. The call comes nearly five months after deadly fires in Los Angeles threatened communities with a high proportion of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders — some with limited English proficiency — highlighting the need for multilingual alerts. In a letter sent to Brendan Carr, the Republican chair of the FCC, Barragán (D-San Pedro) expressed '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 said in an interview with The Times. "You've got about 68 million Americans that use a language other than English and everybody should have the ability to 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." Multilingual emergency alerts should be in place across the nation, Barragán said. But the January Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires served as a reminder that the need is particularly acute in Los Angeles. Not only does L.A. have a significant risk of wildfires, flooding, mudslides, and earthquakes, but the sprawling region is home to a diverse immigrant population, some of whom have limited English proficiency. "When you think about it, in California we have wildfires, we're always on earthquake alert," Barragán said. "In other parts of the country, it could be hurricanes or tornadoes — we just want people to have the information on what to do." Four months ago, the FCC was supposed to publish an order that would allow Americans to get multilingual alerts In October 2023, the FCC approved rules to update the federal emergency alert system by enabling Wireless Emergency Alerts to be delivered in more than a dozen languages — not just English, Spanish and sign language — without the need of a translator. Then, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau developed templates for critical disaster alerts in the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the US. In January, the commission declared a 'major step forward' in expanding alert languages when it issued a report and order that would require commercial mobile service providers to install templates on cellphones within 30 months of publication of the federal register. 'The language you speak shouldn't keep you from receiving the information you or your family need to stay safe,' then-FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a January statement. But shortly after, Trump took control of the White House. Under the chairmanship of Brendan Carr, the commission has yet to publish the January 8 Report and Order in the Federal Register — a critical step that triggers the 30-month compliance clock. 'This delay is not only indefensible but dangerous,' Barragán wrote in a letter to Carr that was signed by nearly two dozen members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus. 'It directly jeopardizes the ability of our communities to receive life-saving emergency information in the language they understand best.' Barragán noted that Carr previously supported the push for multilingual alerts when he was a member of the commission, before taking over leadership. 'Your failure to complete this ministerial step — despite having supported the rule itself — has left this life-saving policy in limbo and significantly delayed access to multilingual alerts for millions of Americans,' she wrote. Asked by The Times what explained the delay, Barragán said her office had been told that Trump's regulatory freeze prohibited all federal agencies, including the FCC, from publishing any rule in the Federal Register until a designated Trump official is able to review and approve it. "It's all politics," she said. "We don't know why it's stuck there and why the administration hasn't moved forward, but it seems, like, with everything these days, they're waiting on the president's green light." Barragán also noted that multilingual alerts helped first responders. "If you have a community that's supposed to be evacuated, and they're not evacuating because they don't know they're supposed to evacuate, that's only going to hurt first responders and emergency crews," she said. "So I think this is a safety issue all around, not just for the people receiving it." Read more: Asian communities faced language barriers during L.A. wildfires, UCLA study says A study published earlier this year by UCLA researchers and the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Equity Alliance found that Asian communities in harm's way during the January L.A. fires encountered difficulties accessing information about emergency evacuations because of language barriers. Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance, a coalition of 50 community-based groups that serves the 1.6 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who live in Los Angeles, told The Times the FCC's failure to push alerts in more languages represented a 'real dereliction of duty.' Over half a million Asian Americans across L.A. County are classified as Limited English Proficiency, with many speaking primarily in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese, she noted. 'President Trump and many members of his administration have made clear they plan to go on the attack against immigrants,' Kulkarni said. 'If this makes the lives of immigrants easier, then they will stand in its way.' During the January L.A. fires, Kulkarni said, residents complained that fire alerts were sent only in English and Spanish. More than 12,000 of the 50,000 Asian immigrants and their descendants who lived within four evacuation zones — Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Hughes — need language assistance. 'There were community members who didn't realize until they were evacuated that the fire was so close to them, so they had little to no notice of it,' Kulkarni said. 'Really, it can mean life or death in a lot of cases where you don't get the information, where it's not translated in a city and county like Los Angeles.' Read more: Signs of human error grow in failure to evacuate Altadena during fire. But who is to blame? Community members ended up suffering not just because of the fires themselves, Kulkarni said, but because of federal and local officials' failure to provide alerts in languages every resident can understand. 'It is incumbent that the alerts be made available,' she said. 'We need those at local, state and federal levels to do their part so that individuals can survive catastrophic incidents.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Trump's FCC delays Multilingual emergency alerts for natural disasters, sparking concern in L.A.
California Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán urged the Federal Communications Commission on Monday to follow through on plans to modernize the federal emergency alert system and provide multilingual alerts in natural disasters for residents who speak a language other than English at home. The call comes nearly five months after deadly fires in Los Angeles threatened communities with a high proportion of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders — some with limited English proficiency — highlighting the need for multilingual alerts. In a letter sent to Brendan Carr, the Republican chair of the FCC, Barragán (D-San Pedro) expressed '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 said in an interview with The Times. 'You've got about 68 million Americans that use a language other than English and everybody should have the ability to 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.' Multilingual emergency alerts should be in place across the nation, Barragán said. But the January Pacific Palisades and Eaton fires served as a reminder that the need is particularly acute in Los Angeles. Not only does L.A. have a significant risk of wildfires, flooding, mudslides, and earthquakes, but the sprawling region is home to a diverse immigrant population, some of whom have limited English proficiency. 'When you think about it, in California we have wildfires, we're always on earthquake alert,' Barragán said. 'In other parts of the country, it could be hurricanes or tornadoes — we just want people to have the information on what to do.' Four months ago, the FCC was supposed to publish an order that would allow Americans to get multilingual alerts In October 2023, the FCC approved rules to update the federal emergency alert system by enabling Wireless Emergency Alerts to be delivered in more than a dozen languages — not just English, Spanish and sign language — without the need of a translator. Then, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau developed templates for critical disaster alerts in the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the US. In January, the commission declared a 'major step forward' in expanding alert languages when it issued a report and order that would require commercial mobile service providers to install templates on cellphones within 30 months of publication of the federal register. 'The language you speak shouldn't keep you from receiving the information you or your family need to stay safe,' then-FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a January statement. But shortly after, Trump took control of the White House. Under the chairmanship of Brendan Carr, the commission has yet to publish the January 8 Report and Order in the Federal Register — a critical step that triggers the 30-month compliance clock. 'This delay is not only indefensible but dangerous,' Barragán wrote in a letter to Carr that was signed by nearly two dozen members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus. 'It directly jeopardizes the ability of our communities to receive life-saving emergency information in the language they understand best.' Barragán noted that Carr previously supported the push for multilingual alerts when he was a member of the commission, before taking over leadership. 'Your failure to complete this ministerial step — despite having supported the rule itself — has left this life-saving policy in limbo and significantly delayed access to multilingual alerts for millions of Americans,' she wrote. Asked by The Times what explained the delay, Barragán said her office had been told that Trump's regulatory freeze prohibited all federal agencies, including the FCC, from publishing any rule in the Federal Register until a designated Trump official is able to review and approve it. 'It's all politics,' she said. 'We don't know why it's stuck there and why the administration hasn't moved forward, but it seems, like, with everything these days, they're waiting on the president's green light.' Barragán also noted that multilingual alerts helped first responders. 'If you have a community that's supposed to be evacuated, and they're not evacuating because they don't know they're supposed to evacuate, that's only going to hurt first responders and emergency crews,' she said. 'So I think this is a safety issue all around, not just for the people receiving it.' A study published earlier this year by UCLA researchers and the Asian American and Pacific Islanders Equity Alliance found that Asian communities in harm's way during the January L.A. fires encountered difficulties accessing information about emergency evacuations because of language barriers. Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance, a coalition of 50 community-based groups that serves the 1.6 million Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who live in Los Angeles, told The Times the FCC's failure to push alerts in more languages represented a 'real dereliction of duty.' Over half a million Asian Americans across L.A. County are classified as Limited English Proficiency, with many speaking primarily in Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese, she noted. 'President Trump and many members of his administration have made clear they plan to go on the attack against immigrants,' Kulkarni said. 'If this makes the lives of immigrants easier, then they will stand in its way.' During the January L.A. fires, Kulkarni said, residents complained that fire alerts were sent only in English and Spanish. More than 12,000 of the 50,000 Asian immigrants and their descendants who lived within four evacuation zones — Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Hughes — need language assistance. 'There were community members who didn't realize until they were evacuated that the fire was so close to them, so they had little to no notice of it,' Kulkarni said. 'Really, it can mean life or death in a lot of cases where you don't get the information, where it's not translated in a city and county like Los Angeles.' Community members ended up suffering not just because of the fires themselves, Kulkarni said, but because of federal and local officials' failure to provide alerts in languages every resident can understand. 'It is incumbent that the alerts be made available,' she said. 'We need those at local, state and federal levels to do their part so that individuals can survive catastrophic incidents.'
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
What you may not know about tornado sirens
ST. LOUIS – The City of St. Louis is re-testing tornado sirens Tuesday afternoon after a failure to sound them during a deadly tornado Friday. With that, there is also an opportunity to share what the public may not know about the sirens. One of the most common misunderstandings is that tornado sirens are not a reliable warning source for those inside—according to the National Weather Service, sirens are designated for those who are outdoors. Because of this, officials urge residents to have multiple ways to receive weather alerts inside—from phone notifications, NOAA weather radios, or local television and websites. Wireless Emergency Alerts are official messages from government agencies regarding natural disasters, public safety threats, or missing persons. The notifications are automatically sent to your phone with a loud ringer to it, but the setting must be enabled on the phone. To learn how to enable the notifications on your phone, click here. One of the most important things to remember is that when the siren stops sounding, it does not mean that the weather threat is over. According to Missouri Storm Aware, sirens in the state usually sound for three minutes at a time. There is no siren for an 'all-clear' signal. The sirens aren't always for an imminent tornado threat either, according to NWS. Sometimes, it can be for life-threatening hail or wind. For example, if winds reach 70 mph, trees can snap or be uprooted, and hail that is large enough can break windows, a siren can sound. To learn more about the sirens, click here. To stay up-to-date with the latest weather, download the FOX 2 STL+ app on your Roku, Apple TV, or Amazon Fire TV or visit the FOX 2 Weather page. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Live Updates: Tornado Threat Targets Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas
Dangerous storms are erupting across the central U.S., with a threat of strong tornadoes, damaging hail, and flash flooding. Residents are bracing for another round of deadly and destructive weather following days of severe storms in this region. Watches and warnings are in effect across parts of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas, including heavily populated areas like Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Wichita, Kansas City, Little Rock, and Dallas. These storms could produce strong wind gusts, large hail, and tornadoes—some potentially strong. The Ozarks, one of the most flood-prone regions in the country, are also at risk for flash flooding. For a more detailed forecast, click here. More densely populated areas are in the crosshairs than in recent days, increasing the potential impact. We'll be tracking the storms and their impacts as they develop throughout the day. Continue reading for our live updates: From senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman: With NWS damage surveys still either ongoing or yet to be completed, at least 47 tornadoes appear to have been either confirmed or sighted from last Thursday (May 15) through Saturday (May 17). Over a dozen additional tornadoes likely occurred Sunday, with damage survey results still to be completed. One of those twisters Friday evening was rated EF4 in southern Williamson County, Illinois. That's only the fourth EF4 tornado in the U.S. so far this year. The NWS has issued its first tornado warning of the afternoon, for southeastern Clay County, TX until 4 p.m. EDT. This storm is southeast of Henrietta, Texas, or about 25 miles southeast of Wichita Falls. It's moving northeast, so it's no danger to the city of Wichita Falls. But those in southeast Clay County should take shelter now. Another tornado warning is in effect until 4:15 p.m. EDT for parts of Coal, Pontotoc and Hughes County in eastern Oklahoma. The city of Fayetteville, Arkansas is urging residents to double-check their emergency alert settings as severe storms approach. Officials are reminding the public that having multiple ways to receive life-saving warnings - such as NOAA Weather Radio or Wireless Emergency Alerts - is crucial. To make sure you get them, keep your phone fully charged and turn off 'Do Not Disturb,' especially during overnight storms. Residents can also activate additional alerts, like lightning strike notifications, through the Weather Channel App. We have steps on how to make sure your phone receives necessary alerts here. From senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman: Today's severe weather threat isn't an ordinary one. In their daily severe weather forecast, NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has a threat level 4 out of 5 - also known as a 'moderate' risk - in parts of Oklahoma, southeast Kansas, southern Missouri and northwest Arkansas. These level 4 of 5 risks are typically only issued about a dozen days a year, reserved for outbreaks of either strong tornadoes and/or widespread damaging thunderstorm winds. You can read more about these daily severe weather outlooks here. School districts across Oklahoma are adjusting schedules today as severe weather threatens the region. Oklahoma City, Broken Arrow and Wagoner public schools have all announced delays for graduation ceremonies out of an abundance of caution. Several schools have also canceled after-school activities, citing the priority of student and staff safety. Families are being urged to monitor local alerts and stay weather-aware. NOAA's Storm Prediction Center has just issued a tornado watch until 9 p.m. CDT for all of eastern Kansas and most of western Missouri. This watch includes Kansas City, Topeka and Wichita, Kansas. That makes three tornado watches currently in effect, from Nebraska and Iowa to Oklahoma and Arkansas.
