Dear ICOM members,

ICOM has established "Disaster Relief for Museums" immediately after  
the tsunami 2004. Its mission is to support museums affected by  
natural disasters as well as by man-made disasters that exceed  
national capacities. The initiative consists of three elements:
- the Disaster Relief Task Force, which we are introducing in the message
- the Disaster Relief Website: <http://icom.museum/disaster_relief/>
- the (still small) Disaster Relief Fund

In May 2008 ICOM EC constituted the Disaster Relief Task Force for a  
second triennium. In June the following members were appointed: Thomas  
Schuler (chair), Corine Wegener (vice-chair),  Jorgen Wadum (ICOM-CC),  
Hans-Jürgen Harras (ICMS), Amareswar Galla (CCTF), Leif Pareli (Blue  
Shield), Hanna Pennock (EC), Hong Nam Kim (EC) and Carla Bonomi  
(secretariat).

In July we had a very substantial weekend workshop in Berlin where we  
defined our goals and internal procedures. After this initial meeting  
we tried to catch up with the recent natural disasters. During the  
past three weeks we have collected quite a lot of information on  
Cyclone Nargis in Mynamar, on the Wenchuan earthquake in China and  
particularly on the impact of these disasters to museums.

In Myanmar we have spotted 20 museums situated in the area cyclone  
Nargis had devastated. But as ICOM has no national committee and just  
one personal member in this country, our task force is not better off  
than many other institutions trying to get information and to assist a  
country not much interested in foreign support. As soon as we get  
detailed information we will post it on ICOM-L as well as on our  
website:  <http://icom.museum/disaster_relief/myanmar.html>

We have not checked all 55 museums In Sichuan, but concentrated on  
those 28 museums situated less than 100 km from the epicentre. At  
least 11 of them have been damaged. See the first results of our  
research on our preliminary website  
<http://icom.museum/disaster_relief/china.html>

We have not extended our research to the provinces next to Sichuan,  
but we know that there are many museums affected there as well.  
According to the Chinese Ministry of Culture, 27 museums in 4  
provinces are affected altogether. With the help of ICOM China and the  
Chinese Association of Museums, we will soon present a comprehensive  
list of affected museums and their requests for foreign assistance. As  
China is the host of our next General Assembly we are strongly  
committed not only to show our concern but also to give valuable  
international support.

Concerning the conflict in Georgia see our previous posting to ICOM-L  
and our special temporary website <http://georgia.drfm.info>

We would like to ask all ICOM committees and members to support our  
work, especially by giving assistance to museums affected by a  
disaster. Please, bookmark our website  
<http://icom.museum/disaster_relief/> and visit it after a major  
disaster has occurred.

Dr. Thomas Schuler
Chair
Disaster Relief for Museums Task Force

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