Earthquake Preparedness and Recovery
There is a 63% chance that in the next 25 years a major earthquake of disastrous magnitude will occur in the San Francisco Bay Area where the Asian American population exceeds 1.5 million, 17% live in poverty and many lack enough English proficiency to use regular media resources. Still, until recently, no outreach had been done to reach bi-lingual communities (Asian nor Latino).
The Asian Pacific Fund was invited by Pacific Gas & Electric and the U.S. Geological Survey to participate in a multi-agency project, through which the Fund facilitated the first public education conducted in Asian languages and Spanish.
The project included more than one million copies of a U.S.G.S. Asian language handbook, “Protective Your Family” in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and English through partnerships with Asian ethnic print media. The booklet was also promoted and distributed in the Filipino and Indian communities. The Fund arranged for distribution of the publication to community based organizations, in Asian markets and to be featured on a program televised as a public service by KTSF Channel 26. The booklet was distributed through partnerships coordinated by New America Media with ethnic print publications. Partners included the American Red Cross and the California Earthquake Authority.
In the second year of the project, with sponsorship from Pacific Gas & Electric, the Asian Pacific Fund had key segments of the U.S.G.S. booklet printed in serialized format in Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese newspapers.
You may request free paper copies from the U.S. Geological Survey or download a digital version.
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