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 ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes). ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).