DCS Chair's Vlog Broadcast

DCS Board Chair Leslie Elion just put out a vlog this morning, explaining how DCS came up with the estimate of 1,000 deaf evacuees and further updating the situation on wildfires and evacuation.
She raised a good point why an estimate was necessary in order to help FEMA project their services for meeting the evacuees' needs. This seemingly minor thing may help deaf agencies a great deal in the future in emergency preparations.

Regarding some people's expressed puzzlement over the estimate, I brought this up with an interpreter I was talking with at the DCS booth at Qualcomm Stadium yesterday. She thought the figure of 1,000 was about right because there is a bulk of deaf people living in Chula Vista, southeast of San Diego. There are also more deaf people who live in Poway, Escondido, Julian and the surrounding mountains. Some of those deaf people have families, usually tend to stay at home and don't hang out as some of us San Diego regulars do at Deaf Coffee on Fridays or other places. Some of the deaf evacuees don't go to Qualcomm or other evacuation centers but spend the nights over at their friends or relatives' houses instead.

Despite that the winds calmed down, the fires are still raging in some parts of San Diego County. For a more updated information on the five major fires in San Diego County, see this link.

The deaf evacuees that I met and interviewed with yesterday were fine and in an upbeat mood. One of them told me DCS was very outstanding in its services that it provided. The emergency services people were great to them, this evacuee told me. Jon Savage already posted photos of evacuees at Qualcomm that you can see here.

I pray that the evacuees' houses are intact!