HOUSTON, December 12, 2007 - On the morning of November 26, 2007, the Bellerive high-rise apartments caught fire creating a four-alarm nightmare for over 200 residents and a significant challenge for the Houston Housing Authority.

The essentials of disaster relief from the Bellerive apartment fire included food and shelter, but also at the top of the list was language assistance. The Houston Housing Authority was challenged to communicate efficiently with many of the 200+ evacuees from the apartment fire due to a language barrier. Approximately 50% of the residents of the Bellerive Apartments speak little or no English. Aside from losing their homes, residents had to deal with the legal aspects of being transferred to one of three alternate locations, claiming their belongings, and completing lots of paperwork for assistance.

The Houston Housing Authority called upon MasterWord Services to provide interpreters and translations for multiple languages including Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, and Korean to facilitate communication between HHA staff and their evacuees. MasterWord dispatched over a dozen interpreters within two hours after receiving the emergency request from the Houston Housing Authority. Interpreters were immediately sent to three temporary relocation sites around Houston to assist the evacuees with the aftermath.

“Responding to emergency requests in a time of crisis is familiar territory for MasterWord. Between our health care, community, and legal work, 20% of our requests are handled on an emergency basis. These are situations that require an interpreter immediately to ensure the situation is handled in the most appropriate manner. Clear communication is vital. It’s why MasterWord is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and offers one of the largest pools of qualified resources in the nation,” said Jorge U. Ungo Director of MasterWord’s Interpretation Division.

Relocation documents and other necessary legal paperwork were sent to MasterWord for translation into different languages to be translated immediately. “Written and oral translation played a critical role in allowing Housing Authority staff and service providers to clearly communicate with all residents in order to quickly stabilize and relocate them to temporary housing,” said Steve Mikelman, the Houston Housing Authority’s Chief of Staff.

“The evacuees were huddled in groups trying to figure out what to do after the devastation of losing their homes. An elderly woman was in tears because she could not understand what she was to do next. She was very appreciative to see someone there that could communicate in her language,” stated one of the interpreters after working a long day at the relocation headquarters.

Over 150 languages are spoken in the homes of HISD and over 30% of the Houston population speaks a language other than English in the home. About half a million residents of Houston speak little or no English, and the top languages spoken are Spanish, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, French, and Urdu. Masterword Services has been providing language solutions to business, government, and non-profits since 1993. In its 15 years of service, MasterWord has assisted thousands of Houston residents as well as international visitors in communicating at health care facilities, courthouses, and with other government entities.

MasterWord Services is a leading provider of industry-specific language solutions. Based in Houston, Texas, MasterWord Services is the leading provider of on-site interpreters in the state. MasterWord has worked in over 100 languages in 2007 while providing solutions for bilingual staff screening, interpretation, translation, and language training.

“Being responsive to the needs of our clients is our number-one priority and is the reason why so many leading concerns rely on MasterWord for their multilingual communication needs” stated Mila Green, president and founder of MasterWord Services.

As the Houston Housing Authority works on rebuilding the Bellerive Apartments, the evacuees have begun work on rebuilding what was lost from their lives. “The interpreters were all excellent and really knew how to handle this difficult situation. I can certainly vouch for MasterWord.” Cheryl Rivers with the Houston Housing Authority remarked.