During the October wildfires many Spanish speakers received no alert to evacuate in their language. But that wasn’t the only communication failure during that disaster.
In the Napa Valley, Community Organizations Active in Disaster, called COAD for short, held a conference Thursday on how to best prepare for emergencies. Reporter Adia White attended a session on eliminating language barriers in disaster response. She talked with one of the panelists, Emilia Carbajal, who’s the program director of the Graton Day Labor Center. Carbajal witnessed a number of communication failures both during and after last year’s wildfires.
Reporting for this story was sponsored by a grant from Internews. Join us tonight for a live event on language barriers during disasters at KBBF’s studio. More on our website norcalpublicmedia.org. Hear this story on demand with our free KRCB mobile app. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. Comment, share and give us a like there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.
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