The conversation
Losing the cultural context in emergency communication can be a matter of life and death
Migrant workers in a Florida community hard hit by Hurricane Irma line up for supplies. Spencer Platt / Getty ImagesCan a butterfly in Chicago cause a tornado in Hong Kong? A metaphorical concept called the “butterfly effect” describes the sensitivity of a system to small changes. The use of this concept has grown significantly in several technical fields, such as information technology and information technology. We wondered if this would apply to emergency communications. As part of a new study, we interviewed bilingual migrants in Florida. Looking at data from 10 languages, we realized how small deviations in translation can cause significant differences in understanding. These misunderstandings can have catastrophic consequences. Clear language is essential in emergency communication. Being able to distribute information about disasters can be a matter of life and death. We saw how migrant communities tend to be more affected than others by disasters, such as in Hurricane Katrina, when many failed to evacuate in part because the storm alerts were broadcast mainly in English. Many migrants to the US do not arrive with a clear understanding of basic English terms of danger, such as “hurricane” and “tornado”, which are used by local weather channels and in emergency communications. This is a latent public health problem, with clear implications for migrant communities. This type of failure in emergency communication can be described as disaster linguistics – discrimination based on the language that minorities can face during disasters. When direct translation doesn’t work What meteorologists call a “hurricane” in the US can be called a “cyclone” or “typhoon” in other countries. But they are all the same natural phenomenon. The word “typhoon” has an Arabic origin, “tawaphan”, but the Arabic word means “flood”. The word can also be found in Persian as “tophan”, where it means “storm”. The word also exists in Hindi, “toophan”, and it simply means “storm”. The two words “tornado” and “hurricane” are translated into the same Arabic word, “iiesar”. But that word describes only a circular movement of the wind. The term used in Arabic to describe a hurricane is “iiesar bahri”, which is translated back into English as “sea cyclone”. In the United States, the words “tornado” and “twister” are used interchangeably in English, but in Spanish they are not. In Spanish, “tornado” is translated into “tornado”, while “twister” is translated into “torbellino” or “tromba”, which is translated back into English as “swirl”. Likewise, “tornado” is translated as “kardbad” in Persian, which also means “whirlwind”. In both cases, the translations do not reflect the seriousness of the event; makes the danger seem less dangerous. The misunderstanding can also go in the other direction, leading to unnecessary panic. The word “hurricane” takes on a certain cultural context around the world. This is mainly due to media coverage of the actions taken by the US government during hurricanes. Because of this, migrants from India can assume that hurricanes are more destructive than cyclones if they compare the US government’s response to hurricanes with the Indian government’s response to cyclones. The indirect effect is that human behavior in response to the same natural phenomena is altered. This can spread panic among migrants, which can be as dangerous as not being prepared during emergencies. The problems do not end with “hurricane” and “tornado”. We encountered similar problems arising with terms used to describe seismic events, monsoon dust and sandstorms. And we’re just scratching the surface. Our data is limited to 10 languages among more than 7,100 languages spoken worldwide. Across the world, people use different words to designate similar – but not always identical – weather phenomena. Created with wordart.com Creating more inclusive emergency messages Our data demonstrates the importance of careful attention to language choices in emergency communications. The gaps we see can cause linguistic minorities to confuse one natural danger with another, possibly leading to wrong preventive measures. Writing and translating culturally sensitive emergency communications can avoid some of these disadvantages and the potential for unintended harm. In addition to overcoming translation barriers, there are opportunities to promote inclusive disaster preparedness that leaves no one behind. Emergency communication must be adapted to the needs of local communities. This can only happen when an action strategy is created collaboratively with the community and is actually followed. In the USA, 67 million people speak a foreign language in their homes. Communicating in different languages and understanding the original cultural context may seem like a lot of work, but local communities can and help support these initiatives. The institutions we rely on for emergency communication are increasingly adopting a posture focused on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. Now, the opportunity to support communities through linguistic inclusion can make an important contribution to broader public health efforts. [Understand new developments in science, health and technology, each week. Subscribe to The Conversation’s science newsletter.]This article was republished from The Conversation, a non-profit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Amer Hamad Issa Abukhalaf, from the University of Florida and Jason von Meding, from the University of Florida. Read more: How undocumented immigrants negotiate a place for themselves in America. Thousands of people did not evacuate before Hurricane Matthew. Why not? The authors do not work, consult, own shares or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article and have not disclosed relevant affiliations other than their academic appointment.