Having been through a few hurricanes when I lived on the East coast the
foremost priority now is search and rescue, followed by reestablishment
of infrastructure such as road clearence, water, power, etc. before any
non-residents are allowed into the disaster areas. It is certain that
many structures are unstable and entry may not be allowed where
structural failure is evident.
I heard this morning that almost all of the cell towers and radio
towers are down and that communication is almost entirely limited to
satelite phones. So it may be some time before any word comes out as to
how some of the museums and historic sites fared in the storm.
The Heritage Preservation site may have updates and it certainly has
some very useful resources on disasters. They have been working with
the federal agenicies for years, most notably FEMA, on this issue.
What may be a huge help is for someone to post a listing of recovery
resources in the region where the various museums can go for help - it
really makes a difference when dealing with a recovery firm that has
experience with collections and one that doesn't.
These days most musuems that have an updated disaster plan maintain
such a resource list, but many still do not.
Cheers!
Dave
David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, California, USA
-----Original Message-----
From: Claudia J. Nicholson <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 09:24:10 -0500
Subject: Katrina
As a region-wide disaster, it may be a while before we hear
anything significant from our colleagues down south. They will all
have to deal with their personal disasters first, probably, before they
can get to their institutions. While I would love to go down and help
with disaster recovery, it is not possible for me to do so. However,
if we could convince the feds to spring loose some IMLS funds to help
in the recovery, would be great. While there will be general federal
disaster assistance, it is likely to be available to everyone. IMLS
money could be used specifically for cultural institutions. As anyone
who has written a disaster plan knows, recovery is monstrously
expensive.
And again, it points out the need for all of us to take two tacks in
our disaster plan: one when the disaster is limited to our own
institutions (like a fire), and the second when there is an area-wide
disaster, like Katrina. I think you have to approach the whole things
differently, because the person-power situation will be totally
different.
Claudia
Claudia J. Nicholson
Executive Director
North Star Museum of Boy Scouting and Girl Scouting
651-739-8857
[log in to unmask]
www.nssm.org
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