CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Deaf, Blind Lacked N. Calif. Quake Data

Thousands of blind and deaf people lacked adequate emergency information after the major earthquake that struck Northern California last Oct. 17, a legislative hearing was told. Witnesses testified that radio and television stations met the needs of the general population but didn’t help disabled people in the moments after the disaster. Bobbi Redinger, an audiologist with the Hearing Society for the Bay Area, said there was “an information blackout for over 50,000 hearing-impaired people who have severe to profound hearing losses.” She told the hearing, chaired by Sen. Milton Marks (D-San Francisco), that none of the local television stations “volunteered to present emergency information visually.” The earthquake killed 67 people and caused about $7 billion in damage.