ICCROM and the Swedish National Heritage Board have released a Swedish version of the pioneering online resource, Endangered Heritage: Emergency Evacuation of Heritage Collections, developed in partnership with UNESCO.
All museums need standards to follow when disaster strikes, and disaster preparation is fundamental in any setting – even more so now in the face of heightened disasters and international conflicts. Sweden faces both of these concerns, in addition to increasing fire risk, rising sea levels and flooding as a result of climate change.
“If a collection needs to be evacuated, it needs to be prepared for that occasion. The evacuation should not risk damaging the collection more than if it had not been moved. I think this handbook addresses various considerations and preparations for an evacuation in a systematic and easy-to-understand manner. We know that many managers of cultural heritage in Sweden work with disaster plans now and a translation of this handbook has been requested by many of them,” explained Erika Hedhammar, adviser at the Swedish National Heritage Board.
About the publication
Built upon years of experience and real-life situations, Endangered Heritage: Emergency Evacuation of Heritage Collections offers a field-tested, simple workflow for the emergency evacuation of valuable objects. This multi-purpose guide was created to be accessible to many users: heritage personnel, emergency responders and civilians.
The resource offers guidance on when and how to intervene to protect endangered heritage, with its illustrations and charts helping readers to understand quickly and begin working. In crises, it is a fast and easy read covering the emergency documentation, safe transport and temporary storage of collections.
Including the Swedish translation,Endangered Heritage: Emergency Evacuation of Heritage Collections is now available in 15 languages, making it accessible to emergency responders, heritage professionals and communities living in risk-prone regions around the world. In addition to Swedish, the guidelines are available in Arabic, English, Farsi, French, Georgian, German, Italian, Japanese, Nepali, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish and Ukrainian. You can find these publications here.
Download the Swedish version of Endangered Heritage: Emergency Evacuation of Heritage Collections
Save it and share it with as many people as possible to improve emergency preparedness and response and build resilience for cultural heritage worldwide!