The Christmas week blizzard of 2022 hit, it exposed several flaws in how emergency communication is shared on a mass scale in Western New York.
For those who work with the non-English-speaking community, it was a lesson they will not soon forget. And it will come in handy when the skies go dark during Monday’s solar eclipse.
The International Institute of Buffalo has translated eclipse safety and preparedness information into the top languages spoken in the region, namely Arabic, Bengali, Burmese, Dari, French, Pashto, Somali, Swahili and Ukrainian, with no charge to the county. The Erie County Department of Health provided the flyers in English and Spanish. The institute translated the Ukrainian flyer under the Ukraine Supplemental Appropriation to Resettlement Agencies grant, while all the other flyers were funded using the New York State Enhanced Services for Refugees Program grant.
“Information is power, but it is only powerful if you have access to it. And access cannot just be presumed to be in English and Spanish,” said Jennifer Rizzo-Choi, the institute’s executive director.
May Shogan, the organization’s senior director of programs, international exchanges and education, said the service is a positive development that emerged from the deadly blizzard.
“From that we learned that we need to be ahead of the game … and that started us on this path. Whenever there’s something going on that we feel our clients – and not just our clients but everybody who does not communicate well in English – need to know this information for their safety,” she said.
Some of the safety tips include raising awareness about using eclipse glasses to prevent permanent vision damage, discouraging unnecessary travel, and cautioning them about possible traffic congestion and gridlock before, during, and after the eclipse event. The flyers will help reduce health scares, she said.
The institute is trying to disseminate information…
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