Our organization has a dedicated department consisting of trained professionals who specialize in conducting risk analysis for artifacts, whether they are showcased or stored. They provide expert recommendations on how to safeguard our precious cultural heritage. In the event of any disaster, our team is ready to assist in rescuing artifacts. SDCH possesses advanced software that facilitates documentation of artifacts, storage facilities, and historical structures. This documentation is based on thorough examinations conducted by our professionals, and the resulting data is effectively managed and maintained.
Aims & Objectives of Guidelines:
Disaster Risk Management
- Identify and assess risks to people- visitors, staff and management an also to the overall value
- Identify and assess aspects of the museum that contribute to its overall cultural value
- Identify and assess disaster risks beyond the building, exploring the site and immediate context and environs, including aspects like access to the site, availability of critical infrastructure, etc.
Disaster Risk Prevention and Reduction/Mitigation
- Prioritise action as Critical, Short Term, Medium Term and Long Term, based on an understanding of Acceptable Risk and Cultural Value as well as Economic Value. An approach of minimal intervention should be adopted as far as possible as long as high standards of human safety are maintained.
- Within the collections of the museum, an inventory identifying objects of highest significance to low significance should be prepared and made accessible to staff. This should guide the approach towards risk prevention and reduction as well as emergency response measures.
Planning Emergency Preparedness and Response
- At the same time, objects identified as having “low” significance should not be deemed disposable. Every attempt should be made to ensure safety of the entire collection as a whole.
- Specialized efforts to secure the site and collections during a disaster should be undertaken to ensure minimal loss to collections due to lack of specialized procedures.
Post-disaster Recovery and Rehabilitation
- Post-disaster assessment should take into account the recorded significance of the object before the disaster in order to prioritize recovery planning.
- Rehabilitation of museums should not be overlooked as they are important contributors to community identity.
Operational framework and Implementation:
Special Considerations with Respect to Objects, Collections and Sites with Heritage Value
In any disaster scenario, human safety must be prioritized over everything else. Therefore, it is imperative to ensure that all museums are designed to respond to existing hazards, both natural and man-made, with special attention paid to the storage and display of collections. Besides, the structural safety of the building envelope and interiors should also be ensured. Existing museums should be assessed for potential disaster risks, including the site and surrounding context, and the building and infrastructure should be upgraded to ensure structural integrity and safety. Clear disaster response strategies should be in place for the evacuation of visitors and staff.
However, with respect to historic buildings and collections that have cultural, historic, or aesthetic value, upgrading may not be possible without the loss of cultural significance or value. The value enshrined within a historic building, site, or within the collection is a crucial aspect when planning for disaster risk management in a museum. For this reason, it is important to assess and prioritize both aspects: values as well as potential risks while developing a plan. With respect to collections and built heritage, a certain degree of risk may be deemed ‘acceptable’ to maintain its authenticity and value. This risk is deemed acceptable or tolerable depending on existing cultural, technical, and environmental conditions.
Prioritizing Actionable Strategies
These guidelines have been structured using the individual stages of the disaster risk management process, with guidelines indicated for each stage of the disaster risk management process. It is important to approach disaster risk management as a continuous cycle that is integrated within the overall management of an institution and streamline these actions within the functioning of the museum.
Approaches and Methodologies for Risk Assessment:
Risk assessment: A methodology to determine the nature and extent of risk by analyzing potential hazards and evaluating existing conditions of vulnerability that together could potentially harm exposed people, property, services, livelihoods and the environment on which they depend.
Comment: Risk assessments (and associated risk mapping) include a review of the technical characteristics of hazards, such as their location, intensity, frequency, and probability. The analysis of exposure and vulnerability encompasses physical, social, health, economic, and environmental dimensions. Additionally, the evaluation of the effectiveness of prevailing and alternative coping capacities in respect to likely risk scenarios is conducted. This series of activities is sometimes known as a risk analysis process.
Identification of risks for a cultural institution would include listing natural and human induced hazards that could potentially have an adverse impact. Furthermore, vulnerabilities of the museum – its building, collections, infrastructure, and management – should be evaluated. Understanding the relationship between hazards and vulnerabilities will highlight the risks for the museum.
The first step towards risk assessment is to identify all the hazards (natural as well as human-induced) and vulnerabilities that apply to the museum. Together, hazards and vulnerabilities provide a picture of the risk.
Broadly, the assessment of disaster disks follows the following process:
- Identify hazards, both natural as well as human induced
- Identify vulnerabilities
- Analyze cause-effect relationships between hazards and vulnerabilities
- Assessing Degree of Exposure
- Analyze potential impacts to lives, property and heritage value
- Prioritize risk on the basis of scale, frequency, probability, potential impact and so on
Post-disaster Assessment:
Once the response phase to the disaster is successfully underway, it is important to take stock of the situation and conduct a preliminary assessment of the impact of the disaster in order to initiate the recovery phase. An assessment is first needed of the museum building and site to ensure that the area is safe for entering and carrying out salvage or recovery operations. This assessment should be undertaken by a qualified professional in case there has been structural impact to the building itself or to the essential services.
The following aspects should be considered during the assessment of the collections:
- Timelines for carrying out preliminary assessment and detailed assessment of damage: Based on the nature and scale of disaster, the scope of the assessment will vary. This will determine whether a small scale exercise is needed or an exhaustive inventory.
- Procedures and methodology for carrying out damage assessment. The general approach is to begin with a basic visual assessment and survey followed by a detailed analysis.
- Formats of documentation and assessment of damage. Formats for documentation and assessment of damage follow some basic principles and can be
- adapted to different scenarios.
- Compiling the data and findings in a meaningful way to inform the process of post-disaster recovery actions. The collected data could potentially be needed to raise funds or generate other resources and needs to be compiled in a simple yet effective manner.