Overview:

The January 2025 fires in Los Angeles County rank among the most devastating disasters in American history with estimated economic losses exceeding $250 billion, significant displacement of residents, extensive structural damage, and tragic loss of life. The fires have affected all segments of the population — rich and poor, residents and workers, and people from every racial and major ethnic group. This includes Asian Americans, who face unique challenges, particularly those with limited English proficiency (LEP). Language barriers can hinder access to critical emergency notifications, which are essential for timely evacuations and ensuring safety during wildfires. Effective communication is also crucial during the recovery and rebuilding process. Reaching LEP Asian communities is especially challenging because they speak dozens of different languages.

Main Findings:

 

• Nearly 50,000 Asian Americans reside within the Los Angeles County evacuation zones during the January 2025 wildfires, with over 12,000 needing language assistance due to limited English proficiency.
• In the evacuation zones, the most commonly spoken Asian languages are Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese, but dozens of other Asian languages, which vary by evacuation zone, are also represented.
• Older Asian Americans experience significantly higher rates of limited English proficiency (61%) compared with younger generations (15%), making it more difficult to navigate emergency response and recovery.

 

The most commonly spoken Asian languages in the combined evacuation zones are Chinese, Korean, Tagalog and Vietnamese. However, dozens of other Asian languages are also represented and vary by evacuation zone, which points to the broad range of language needs in these communities.

 

Steps to enhance multilingual communication and improve accessibility

 

The crisis caused by the wildfires presents an opportunity for advocates and decision-makers to rethink and strengthen emergency response strategies in order to build a more inclusive and equitable framework for disaster response. The data brief highlights several key recommendations:

 

• Identify language needs — Regularly assess language assistance needs in fire evacuation zones using census, school and community survey data. Partner with researchers with expertise in Asian American communities to conduct detailed analyses and anticipate language barriers before disasters occur.
• Provide culturally and linguistically appropriate communication — Develop in-language emergency materials tailored to the specific linguistic needs of affected communities.
• Strengthen partnerships with community organizations — Collaborate with trusted, community-based organizations that serve limited-English proficient populations to improve outreach and response.
• Community oversight and engagement — Create citizen oversight groups and facilitate local discussions, utilizing Asian language translators, to address barriers in disaster recovery and rebuilding.
• Institutionalize long-term improvements — Implement multilingual alert systems and integrate language access planning into broader emergency response frameworks.

 

Data-informed and intentional action from government agencies, emergency responders and community organizations is needed to ensure that all residents — regardless of language ability — are fully included in recovery and rebuilding efforts.

Learn more about the data sources and methodology used for the data brief analysis.

 

Read the UCLA Newsroom story:

Increased access to Asian American language assistance needed during emergencies
UCLA study of L.A. wildfires calls for improved multilingual disaster communications to overcome language barriers