Emergency-notification system help to inform residents, but what about non-English Speakers

Emergency-notification has been a topic of interest in recent weeks. These notifications are to inform residents about disasters, emergencies and outages in the Kent area. This is great, but what about non-English speakers?

The emergency-notification system Kent uses is Swift911. This program is through SwiftReach Network Inc., which is headquartered in Mahwah, New Jersey.

On the SwiftReach Network Inc. website, there is robust information about SwiftReach Network, and what the programs are offered through the system.

It is described as being an emergency-notification system for organizations to inform individuals when there are outages, fires, and other emergencies.

Although there is a lot of information regarding the SwiftReach Network system, there is zero information offered to non-English speaking individuals.

Because of this reason, Kent’s program, Swift911 does not offer a non-English version for those who do not speak English.

Eugene Roberts, Kent’s public service director, was out on vacation and was not available for questioning, but he is the go to person concerning Swift911.

Swift911 gives city officials a chance to contact residents immediately when there is a disaster, outage or emergency.
If residents would like to be a part of this program, all they have to do is go to the city of Kent website, click on public safety and go to the Swift911 section.

On the bottom, viewers can find a form to fill out to enroll in the program.

Professor Federico Subervi, instructor in the journalism and mass communication department at Kent State University states that there should be a more serious look at creating an emergency-notification/plan for non-English speaking individuals.

“Even if it is a small number of people that do not speak English, there should still be something offered to them” states Subervi.

According to American Factfinder Kent, has 28, 904 residents. Out of those 28,904 residents, 4,558 are minorities.

Although, there may be a small number of minorities compared to the majority in Kent, it would still be beneficial to look at creating a program for non-English speaking people. This is not only a problem in Kent.

Brad Schwartz, the state of Ohio’s Emergency Operation Planner states “there is no emergency plan available for non-English speaking people in Ohio’s emergency communication plan”. However, he states that he “will talk to his supervisor about it”.

If you visit Ohio’s emergency agency website, there is a lot of information about Ohio’s emergency plan regarding disasters. Nevertheless, just like the SwiftReach Network website, there is no information regarding non-English speaking individuals.

Latino/as make up the highest minority in the United States, which continues to grow every year. There are 354,674 Latino/as in the state of Ohio. That number will continue to grow over the years.

Now is the time to seriously look at implementing a non-English version emergency communication plan and creating a non-English emergency-notification program.

This might cost more money for tax-payers, but there is a long-term benefit in helping those who do not have the resources available to them now.

Swift911 and other emergency communication programs are great and beneficial to many people because it creates a safer environment for residents, however, being dismissive to a group of people does not benefit anyone.

As of now, Ohio has not seen any major disasters, but if there is one, are we fully prepared to care for everyone in the State, in particular, Kent?