FCC Seeks Comment on Multilingual Wireless Emergency Alerts

The Federal Communications Commission's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau seeks comment on specific mechanisms to implement multilingual Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA). Through these measures, the Bureau advances the priority that WEA serve as an effective and accessible life-saving tool for many, including the millions of people living in the United States who do not primarily speak English or Spanish and the estimated one-in-four adults in the United States that have some form of disability who remain at risk for not being able to receive and understand the potentially life-saving information conveyed by WEA messages in an accessible language and format. We propose a set of pre-translated WEA messages in English, the 13 most commonly spoken languages in the United States, and American Sign Language, that would be pre-installed and stored on mobile devices offered by Participating Commercial Mobile Service Providers. We also seek comment on support for form-fillable templates that would include information specific to the particular emergency. Finally, we seek comment on whether Participating Providers’ device offerings should support templates in additional languages.