Push for Language Access After Ida Highlights a Greater Need in N.Y.
The New York Times
The storm hit the city’s immigrant communities hard, and the New York attorney general called this week for severe weather alerts to be sent in more languages. Advocates say deeper changes are needed.
When the remnants of Hurricane Ida reached New York City last September, the trail of destruction it left in its wake did not hit all New Yorkers equally.
The natural disaster trapped the city’s least protected, particularly low-income residents who could only afford to live in tight, illegally zoned basement dwellings that quickly became death traps once the flooding started. Many of the 13 New York City residents who died were of Asian descent, spoke limited English and may not have received warnings about the severity of the storm in time.
The uneven fallout from the storm was just one of the most recent outcomes of a system that has long put at a disadvantage the city’s most vulnerable, especially those for whom English is not a second language.
