Emergency planning for cultural heritage involves 3 key steps: 1) assessing risks and vulnerabilities, 2) developing emergency procedures and training staff, 3) activating the plan during a disaster to save cultural assets. The plan coordinates different stakeholders like curators, conservators, firefighters and volunteers to protect artifacts in situ or evacuate them to safe locations. Regular testing and updates are needed to ensure an effective response when an emergency occurs.

1. Emergency Planning
for the Protection of
Cultural Heritage
David Alexander
University College London

2. The risk of disaster may
be small, but it is not
insignificant....

3. Cultural heritage:
• works of art
• works of architecture
• museums and galleries
• highly prized landscapes
• archaeological sites
• libraries and archives
• storage facilities, etc.

4. Categories of artefact at risk:
• paper, papyrus, etc.
• ceramics, glass
• metal, stone
• leather, hide and parchment
• other organic substances: bone,
wood, hair, horn, ivory, shell
• photographic film
(and colour slides)
• magnetic media
• paintings on canvas or wood
• sculptures and bas reliefs
• textiles: fabrics, clothing & accessories.

5. Cultural heritage
is particularly
vulnerable to a
series of risks...

6. The principal risks:
• floods and landslides
• meteorological extremes (storms,
heatwaves, cold waves, snowfalls)
• seismic or volcanic events
• fires
• infestations
• events of human origin
(explosions, release of
toxic substances, etc.).

7. Architectural works
may be vulnerable to:
• structural damage
• collapse
• the effects of water
• damage caused by wind
• fire damage
• humidity
• accelerated decay
• fissuring and cracking
• damage to surfaces and façades
• loss of architectural details,
statues, ornamentation, etc.

8. Works of art:
• very sensitive to extremes
of temperature and humidity
• require controlled environments
in both exhibition and storage
• can be ruined by structural
collapse, fire, flood or explosion.

9. Earthquakes can:
• overturn objects on shelves
• throw them off shelves to
break on the floor beneath
• cause pictures to fall off walls
• Works of art must therefore be
firmly restrained against these risks.
• Catalogues must be protected and
duplicate copies kept at separate sites.

10. Seismic risk:
• total or partial collapse;
serious, moderate or light cracking
• failure of foundations
• objects overturned or fallen, possibly
smashed, as a result of strong motion
• objects crushed by the collapse of
structural elements or fitments
• effects of post-earthquake fire
• risks to the occupants of buildings.

11. Some critical temperature values:-
• books and documents: 175 deg. Cent.
• tapes, disks, microfilm: 75 degrees
• diskettes: 55 degrees.

12. Tourism:
• the greatest industry ever
• generates 1 in 9 jobs
in the whole world
• value: US$3,800,000,000,000
• 262 million jobs associated with it
• 10.7% of world's gross product
• fickle and highly seasonal:
with 1 to 3 peaks per year.

13. How to classify risks:
• by environment and location
• by category of cultural good
• by type of likely damage
(vulnerability)
• by agent of risk (hazard)
• by nature of emergency
intervention
Hazard x vulnerability
[x exposure] = risk

14. • Works and sites tend to be
fragile, complex and exceptionally
vulnerable to disaster
• They form a category that requires
special protection against disasters
• emergency management could
require considerable resources,
but it is usually much cheaper than
restoring damaged objects and sites
• without adequate protection a priceless
and unique heritage could be lost.

15. Emergency planning for
cultural heritage sites
and artefacts

16. A distinction can be made between
measures to take for objects and sites:
• galleries
• museums
• libraries and archives
• storage facilities.
Risks may affect both objects
and their settings.

17. Sites of cultural importance
For works of architecture,
archaeological sites, high-value
environments, historic gardens, etc.:
compile a list, subdivided by
category, age and function.

18. Protection:
• strategies to follow before disaster
strikes (with warning processes)
• recovery and reconstruction
works to conduct after disaster
• use impact scenarios to plan
operations before crises occur
• maintain a register of cultural goods,
procedures to follow and requisites
for ensuring their security.

19. Essential measures:
• study the vulnerability
of sites and their contents
• codify the propensity to suffer damage
• organise measures to counteract damage
- fire suppression systems
- physical barriers against the
movement of fire or water
- structural reinforcement, buttressing
• involve international organisations
(UNESCO, ICOMOS, etc.).

20. Strategies:
• make an assessment of the situation
• conduct a census of works in relation
to the hazards that threaten them
• where appropriate, add a section to the
general emergency plan (of the region,
municipality, etc.) on the procedures
employed to save cultural heritage.

21. Strategies:
• form task forces and give
the members accreditation
• in a crisis or during an alert, they
will need to pass security systems
rapidly to reach works at risk.

22. We need to adopt a systematic
approach to emergency planning:
"thinking the unthinkable",
anticipating the improbable.

23. Organisation of safety and security
Programme formulation
Planning
Procedures
An emergency plan must be
a living document.

24. Emergency
plan
Available Urgent
resources needs
Emergency
plan

25. Existence of various states
of hazard and vulnerability
Construction of operational
scenarios of hazard, risk, impact
adaptation of the plan
Processes of constant
and emergency response
Census of
available resources
Plan of action for
emergencies

26. Classification of scenarios:
• by length of forewarning: {no warning,
short warning, medium-term warning}
• in terms of risk:
{certain, probable, possible, improbable}
• by cause, consequences, techniques
and procedures, time phases, priorities.

27. Emergency Emergency
procedures co-ordination
plan
Spontaneous
improvisation
Emergency
environment

28. The plan:
• foresee the foreseeable, design measures
• create the structure to apply procedures.

29. Actions to take before disaster strikes -
prevent and limit future damage.
Actions to take when disaster strikes -
save and secure cultural goods.

30. Emergency planning:
• construct scenarios
of possible impacts
• establish priorities for
saving particular works
• work out who will
do which tasks
• constitute task forces
• establish procedures for
getting through security
• create a system of
monitoring and warning.

31. The ingredients:
Manpower
Vehicles
(and fuel)
Equipment
Materials
and supplies
Procedures

32. A fundamental question:
establish priorities for
saving artefacts and sites

33. occurrence
improbable
Probability
impossible
occasional
frequent
probable
Seriousness
of
insignificant
slight
moderate
serious
catastrophic
Level of risk: acceptable significant critical

34. Another fundamental
aspect:
preserving the
catalogue and
identifying objects
that have
been saved.

35. Planning procedures:
• conservation of catalogues and records
• involves curators and custodial staff
• in an emergency accredited rescuers
must be able to pass through security
systems rapidly and without hindrance
• procedures are needed to open galleries
and museums to rescuers when an
emergency is imminent or happening.

36. Planning procedures:
• arrange means of lifting, protecting
and transporting objects (which may
be heavy or unwieldy) to safe places
• organise procedures that guarantee
the safety of cultural heritage goods
in places to which they are evacuated
• establish priorities for locating,
transporting to safety and carrying
out works of protection or restoration.

37. Protection:
• decide whether to protect artefacts
in situ or move them to a safer place
• establish priorities for each artefact
on the basis of its importance and ability
to protect it or procedures needed
• assign rescue squads to each task.

38. Methods of in situ protection:
• sandbags, protective covering, etc.
• requires stockpiling of materials
and study of:
- methods of assembling protection
- organisation of work-groups.

39. Measures:
• analyse risks by type
of event or situation
• structural retrofitting of buildings
• arrangements for evacuating occupants
• attach display cases to walls
• other protection measures.

40. Organisation of in situ operations:
• how to open cabinets, store-rooms, etc.
• how to dismantle or detach the works
• how to use equipment for lifting
and transporting the works
• stockpiling appropriate containers.

41. Organisation of transport for artefacts:
• the route to take for each load
• means of transport
• characteristics of the storage place:
- custodial matters, security, control
of indoor climate, hazard mgt, etc.
• how to pass through security systems.

42. Tackle the problem of
insurance for works of art, etc.,
in situ, in transit, in storage.
Create a register
• of artefacts and places in terms
of protection strategies and how
they will be activated in a crisis
• of the associated risks.
Evaluate the probable nature,
seriousness and extent of likely
post-disaster restoration works.

43. Training for museum directors, managers,
curators, custodians and other personnel
• in emergency procedures
• in recovery methods that will probably
be needed after an expected crisis
... and discuss with them the
scenarios of hazard and impact.

44. Subject every high-value building or site to
an assessment of its vulnerability to disaster
• susceptibility to damage and losses
• particular or evident signs
of weakness or decay.

45. Suggest mitigation measures:
• fire-suppression systems
• physical barriers
• structural bracing
• buttressing, etc.

46. No historic building need necessarily
be demolished merely because it is
susceptible to damage in a disaster,
however, retrofitting to appropriate levels
of protection could be very expensive.

47. Before disaster
strikes:
• where possible, estimate the
probable restoration needs--i.e.,
the vulnerability of the building
• identify sources of wood and
scaffolding or stockpile these items
• identify appropriate professionals and
reputable specialist building firms.

48. Possible sources of help for reducing the
vulnerability to disaster of cultural heritage:
• national, regional and local civil
protection departments and public
works ministries or departments
• International Council on Monuments
and Sites (ICOMOS), Paris
• United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO), Paris.

49. Some protection procedures:
• lift and move objects to places
located outside the risk zone
• wrap up, remove and take away
from the risk or impact zone
• protect in situ
(wooden panels, sandbags, etc.)
• consolidate
(scaffolding, buttressing, etc.).

50. Procedures: how to....
• open secured doors
• disactivate alarm systems
• authorise access to protected places
• verify the identity of rescue
squads and their members
• open display cabinets
• remove works from walls
• wrap up works in protective packaging
• safely move heavy, unwieldy
and fragile objects.

51. During an emergency:
• stabilise the situation
• recover, save and protect objects
• rehabilitate areas of cultural significance
• transport mobile cultural goods
to places of safe storage
• safeguard catalogues and preserve
the means of identifying artefacts
• seek to restore normal conditions.

52. HOSPITAL AIRPORT AND
AND HEALTH TRANSPORT
SYSTEM EMERGENCY
EMERGENCY PLANS
PLAN
MUNICIPAL REGIONAL AND
MUTUAL NATIONAL
COUNTY OR
ASSISTANCE EMERGENCY PROVINCIAL
EMERGENCY
PACTS PLAN PLAN
EMERGENCY PLANS
INDUSTRIAL
AND CULTURAL
COMMERCIAL HERITAGE
EMERGENCY EMERGENCY
PLANS PLAN

53. Some conclusions

54. Preparatory study
Creation and
Stakeholders'
updating Training
opinions
of plan
Revision
Dissemination Information
Exercising Evaluation
Activation Disaster

55. Feedback
and revision
Apparent
chaos Model
Plan
Testing
and revision
Feedback
Evaluation
Disaster
Result

56. When a crisis occurs and the
emergency plan is activated....
FIRE BRIGADES
CONSERVATORS:
OR ENGINEERS:
check the state of
check the accessibility
conservation of
of the buildings and
objects and their
monitor the safety
treatment by
of emergency
rescuers
operations
TASK
FORCES
CURATORS:
VOLUNTEER GROUPS: check that priorities
carry out works of for saving artefacts
protection, wrapping up, are observed and put
registration and emergency plans
removal of into action
objects

57. • Not all cultural heritage takes
the form of tangible assets:
e.g. genius loci (sense of place
and sense of belonging)
• The heritage sector does not
understand the language of disaster
risk reduction and is not implementing
DRR to a significant degree
• heritage is seen as taking a
passive and secondary role
in disaster risk reduction.