Toward a National Disaster Response Protocol

Abstract

Since the Florence flood of November 4, 1966, the concept of an or ganized disaster response for cultural property has been a focus for conservators. In 1976, a decade after the Arno River had retreated from Florence's museums, libraries, and historic churches, a Library of Congress planning conference convened to initiate a U.S. national preservation program. At that meeting Stephen Salmon noted a "glaring . . . lack of preparedness for disaster [s] by almost all American librar ies."1 Now, forty years since that calamitous flood, little has changed in terms of being able to initiate a nationally coordinated plan in the face of calamitous events that threaten cultural property in all collect ing institutions. In fact, it is now clearly recognized that only one in five cultural institutions has created an emergency response plan that encompasses collections,2 and it is likely that some or all of these plans will prove ineffectual in the case of a regional disaster. Furthermore, according to meteorologists at the National Oceanographic and Atmo spheric Administration, we now face in the next twenty to thirty years the possibility of stronger, more damaging storms capable of threatening our cultural institutions.3 Ample evidence is at hand that a national disaster response protocol is urgently needed if we are to ensure that irreplaceable cultural collec tions are not needlessly lost. This protocol must be able to be activated quickly to deliver appropriate assistance to affected institutions and, accordingly, be unencumbered by day-to-day bureaucracies that his torically have delayed response time and increased collection damage. This essay describes two recent large institutional catastrophes as well as the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina, an unprecedented U.S. regional disaster, in an effort to underscore the importance of creating a nonprofit entity?the National Disaster Center for Cultural Property (NDC)?capable of implementing an effective response in situations where local resources and expertise are overwhelmed and cultural property is at risk.