Hurricane

Preparing your institution for Hurricane Isabel

The Heritage Emergency National Task Force offers the following
advice to museums, libraries, archives, and historical societies for
protecting collections and records from wind and water damage.

Before the storm: Here are some basic precautions to take if there
is time and you can undertake them safely. These are excerpted from
the "Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel" (copyright 1997, Heritage
Preservation):

    *   Move vital records and high priority items away from windows
        and below-ground storage into water-resistant areas. Avoid
        areas under roofs.

    *   Screw plywood over windows or use tape to reduce shattering.

    *   Verify location and procedures for shutting off water, gas,
        and electricity.

    *   Wrap shelves, cabinets, other storage units in heavy plastic
        sealed with waterproof tape.

    *   Move outdoor objects indoors or secure in place.

    *   Take with you lists of staff, institutional and public
        officials, insurance and financial data, inventory,
        emergency plan and supplies.

    *   Make preliminary contact with service providers for
        generators, freezers, drying or freeze-drying services, and
        refrigerated trucking.

    *   Appoint a staff contact to give instructions on returning to
        work.

Prepare Now! We hope you are not in the path of this terrible storm.
But in light of Isabel's potential for destruction, you should be
asking:

    *   Have we established a telephone tree for staff contacts?

    *   Do we know the first responders in our community?

    *   Is our disaster plan up to date? Our insurance coverage? Our
        inventory?

    *   Have we established priorities for salvaging our
        collections?

    *   Do we have contacts at salvage firms? Have we stocked
        emergency supplies?

    *   Do we know what preservation resources are available in our
        area?

Since 1995, the Heritage Emergency National Task Force has been
working to help cultural institutions safeguard their collections.
Sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and
Heritage Preservation, Inc., the Task Force is a partnership of 34
national organizations and federal agencies. For more hurricane
resources, please visit <URL:http://www.heritageemergency.org>.

Jane S. Long
Director, Heritage Emergency National Task Force
Heritage Preservation
1625 K Street, NW   Suite 700
Washington, DC 20006
202-634-1422
Fax: 202-634-1435


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 17:29
                Distributed: Tuesday, September 16, 2003
                       Message Id: cdl-17-29-001
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