We are assisting FEMA with contingency planning

We are working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on one of its disaster contingency plans. The plan we’re involved with covers the “New Madrid Seismic Zone”, which essentially is made up of part of the Mississippi river valley. Part of the planning is to estimate the number of “people at risk”, which includes disabled people and those who don’t speak English as a first language.

We’ve been providing summary data to FEMA, including the fact that based on 2005 Census data, in the states that make up the New Madrid Seismic Zone there are about 20 million people who speak a language other than English. While the data only indicates individuals who speak a language other than English, it does not indicate how many of those do not speak English. Even so, it provided FEMA a good starting point.

We also provided the map below, which shows, by FEMA’s ten regions, where our NLSC Members are concentrated. Each icon color represents a FEMA region.