Bilingual FEMA Workers Rushed In After Quake

When the Federal Emergency Management Agency set up shop after the Northridge earthquake, it was confronted by thousands of confused and frightened residents desperate for help. For residents who don’t speak English, that confusion, fear and desperation were compounded by a sense of helplessness.

That’s where Jose Monge came in.

With thousands of Spanish-speaking residents unable to adequately communicate their needs and concerns, the call went out to 44 bilingual FEMA workers based in Puerto Rico. As he has in disasters including the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, Hurricane Andrew and the devastating Midwest floods, Monge flew out at a moment’s notice with other workers to staff disaster assistance centers throughout Southern California.

“I’ve worked about seven disasters, including this earthquake,” said Monge, who was assigned to a FEMA location at the Toberman Recreation Center in Pico-Union. “The reason they call us in Puerto Rico is because they know all the FEMA workers are bilingual.”

Since the Jan. 17 temblor, more than 500 FEMA workers have been flown in from across the country, including 78 from FEMA’s Region 2, which covers New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Those Region 2 “reservists” include the bilingual workers who routinely respond to emergencies in areas where there is a large population of Spanish-speaking residents.

“It’s certainly recognized by FEMA that there are vast numbers of people who are living in disaster-prone areas that need information in their native tongue,” said FEMA spokesman Russ Edmonston. “English isn’t their first language and we recognize that, and we’re trying to bring people on board as quickly as possible.”

Most bilingual workers are not full-time FEMA employees. Monge, a reservist, is a sports coordinator in his hometown of Rio Grande.

Reservists are first brought on as local hires in an area where a disaster has occurred, such as the towns in Puerto Rico where Monge first joined FEMA during floods there in 1992. They are then trained on FEMA computers and procedures and asked to stay on as reservists, who are called into action when disaster strikes. Reservists can be asked to stay on indefinitely; in Miami, they have been asked to stay on for up to three years to continue work in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew.

Nearly 1,100 workers have been hired locally by FEMA’s Region 9--which includes California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam and several Pacific Islands and territories--since the Northridge earthquake. In addition to the new hires, Edmonston said bilingual Region 2 workers were brought in because there were insufficient trained personnel to respond to the earthquake, the greatest disaster in FEMA history.

For residents of Pico-Union and Westlake left homeless by the quake, disaster assistance centers staffed by bilingual personnel continue to be vital.

“I think it helps when they see us,” said Audrey Bonilla, a FEMA worker from Region 2. “They (victims) feel more comfortable, I think, because we speak Spanish and we try and understand their language and culture.”

Added Justo Hernandez, another FEMA reservist from Region 2: “Once you tell them ‘I’m here from Puerto Rico and I’m here to help you, then they open up and tell you what’s wrong and what they don’t have.”

Dressed in jeans and print shirt, Monge, brought in as the site manager at the Toberman Recreation Center, listened on a recent afternoon to a woman whose apartment was red-tagged, barring her from entering her building. Another worker explained that the woman has been unable to receive housing assistance because of a mix-up in the paperwork that lists the apartment as being inhabitable.

“This is typical,” Monge said, instructing another worker to contact building inspectors. “Every day we have people who don’t know what to do.”

More than 1,500 applications have been processed at the center in the heart of the predominantly Central American community. The number of applicants has decreased since the center moved from Bonnie Brae Street to the Toberman Recreation Center at 1725 Toberman St. early last week, Monge said.

For reservists such as Monge, Bonilla and Hernandez, the need for experienced bilingual emergency personnel translates into months spent away from families and friends.

“I left (Puerto Rico) in 1992, and my kid was a year old. When I went home in January, he was walking and talking and he wouldn’t come near,” said Hernandez, an assessor with FEMA. Hernandez has spent most of the last two years assisting in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew and in the Midwest.

Bonilla, who is pregnant, agreed the job has a high cost. “I have two kids and they are with my mother right now,” she said. “For me it’s not so bad because my husband is also with FEMA.”

“It’s been very unusual. Ever since Andrew we’ve had continuous disasters,” Edmonston said. “And Region 9 has had its share.”