A good plan can determine whether a cultural collection survives a disaster or fades into memory. And while nature can be unpredictable, the online disaster-planning portal “dPlan” offers a streamlined, reliable way for institutions to protect their cultural collections. Created through funding by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, dPlan is a free, online tool that allows cultural institutions to complete a customizable disaster plan for their organizations. NEDCC, a nonprofit regional center for the preservation and conservation of paper-based materials, and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners (MBLC), developed the tool.

Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness
CDC: Coping With a Disaster or Traumatic Event
CDC Fact Sheet: Prevent Injury after a Disaster
FEMA: A Guide to the Disaster Declaration Process and Federal Disaster Assistance
FEMA: Featured Resource Records
Heritage Emergency National Task Force: On-line Courses in Emergency Management for Cultural Heritage Responders
Hurricanes: Unleashing Nature’s Fury
Smithsonian: Hurricane [...]

After the Fire: Salvaging the Stores of the Department of Archaeology & Natural History
AIC Disaster Response & Recovery
Archeological Resource Damage Assessment: Legal Basis and Methods
CPP Pocket Response Plan for Collections
Conserve-O-Grams. A series of 11 National Park Service publications covering disaster recovery topics like salvaging water-damaged collections (paper, non-paper archives, textiles, natural history collections), health [...]

Resources on funding before and after a disaster.

Latest Earthquakes in the USA

Earthquake Hazard Program, “Latest Earthquakes in the USA”, USGS.
What You Can Do

Bolt sill plate to foundation
Reinforce crawl space or “cripple” walls under floor joists
Connect rim joists to top plates with metal brackets1

1“What You Can Do”, Structural Engineers Association of Northern California, 25
Jan 2007.
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A Litany of Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Things that Can Happen After the Disaster.
Randy Silverman.

ATC-45 Field Manual: Safety Evaluation of Buildings after Wind Storms and Floods.
Applied Technology
Council (ATC).
The following publications are available for download on the ATC web site:

ATC-45 Rapid Evaluation Safety Assessment Form

ATC-45 Detailed Evaluation Safety Assessment Form

ATC-45 UNSAFE Posting Placard (print [...]

Saving Our Heritage Public Service Announcement (LPB)
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NCPTT Damage Assessment Tools

Detailed Building and Site Condition Assessment. The Detailed Building and
Site Assessment is a three-page form that may be used to make a more intensive
survey [...]

Conserve O Gram 21-01: Health And Safety Hazards Arising From Floods
Conserve O Gram 21-02: An Emergency Cart For Salvaging Water-Damaged Objects
Conserve O Gram 21-03: Salvage Of Water-Damaged Collections: Salvage At A Glance
Conserve O Gram 21-04: Salvage At A Glance, Part I: Paper Based Collections
Conserve O Gram 21-05: Salvage [...]

Boston University produced this training video to raise awareness of fire risks to cultural properties and to provide technical information about fire detection and suppression systems including sprinklers, gaseous agents, and water mist.

Maintaining public records requires judicious management of resources. It compels records custodians to identify simple, practical, cost-effective approaches that can be incorporated into daily routines.

The purpose of this paper is threefold; to emphasize the problem of fire safety for historic buildings, to identify potential for a performance-based approach to this problem, and to discuss development of performance objectives and criteria for heritage properties.

Simple book repair was defined as those repairs meeting the following criteria: the repair could be completed in a relatively short period of time, required a relatively low level of conservation skill and experience, and could be accomplished with available tools and supplies.

US/ICOMOS seeks abstracts that discuss innovative, successful programs and partnerships involving collaboration in international preservation within three broad areas.

The NFPA Fire Safety Evaluation System (FSES) provides a multiattribute approach to evaluating fire safety performance.

In response to the recent flooding in the Midwest and fires in California, NCPTT’s Sean Clifford and Mary Striegel continue to update the NCPTT web pages on disaster preparedness, response, and recovery.

NCPTT hosted a MayDay Event “Preparing You for the Next Disaster” in Natchitoches, La.

Mary Striegel of NCPTT presented at the 2008 Louisiana Library Association Annual Meeting, held March 4-6 in Shreveport.

NCPTT’s Andy Ferrell recently participated in the first Louisiana Flood Protection and Ecosystem Restoration Professional Development Program.

There are steps you can take to prepare a historic structure for natural disasters. NCPTT’s architecture and engineering program updates information it presented at the recent Historic Natchez Conference.

The experience in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita underscored the limitations in current approaches for documenting and assessing heritage resources in a postdisaster context.