ICOM expresses its deep concern regarding catastrophic floods which have recently been impacting communities globally, already affecting almost all continents of the world in the past year alone.
This week’s floods in Spain are the latest in a series of catastrophes which have affected more than 20 countries in recent weeks. The ICOM Secretariat has specifically been in contact with the ICOM National Committees in Austria, Czechia, Japan, Mali, Nepal, Poland, Romania and Spain. This is to monitor the local situations and to ascertain the needs of the Committees as they work to support the museum community and evaluate the extent of the damage in their respective countries.
Floods are a severe threat for museums, endangering both the structure of the museums and the conservation of collections. High humidity and water are some of the major threats against works of art and museum collections. In the context of these more frequent extreme weather events, ICOM wishes to draw attention to existing resources regarding museum preparedness that have been developed by its National and Expert Committees.
In 2021, the ICOM International Committee on Conservation (ICOM CC) published its Guidelines for Cultural Heritage Recovery for Water Damaged Objects. These guidelines are based on the experiences of floods in Central Europe, China and India and are intended for museum professionals worldwide.
The ICOM National Committee in Austria have formed a working group including the regional museums-associations, the Federal Ministry, the Austrian Emergency Platform for Museums and Archives, the Austrian UNESCO-Commission, the Federal Monuments Office, the Austrian Armed Forces and Blue Shield Austria, to develop a publication on emergency planning for museums & cultural institutions, compiling all relevant information from international organisations that is already available into a useful, comprehensive manual. One of the resources that will be included is the ICCROM toolkit, “First Aid to Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis – For coordinated emergency preparedness and response to secure tangible and intangible heritage”.
The “ICOM Austria Emergency Tag for Priority Evacuation in Museum Storage” was also developed by ICOM Austria, Blue Shield Austria and Blue Shield International to clearly and consistently mark objects that should be saved first from storage during a crisis, a critical question that arises during all kinds of emergencies. More information about this initiative can be found here in German and here in English. The design and guidance for the use of the tag are available in Open Access. ICOM Austria can share the design, free of copyright, with all interested ICOM Committees and concerned institutions.
In Czechia, extensive floods in 1997 and 2002 have already marked the country and its museum community. Building on this experience, some institutions have developed research on this topic and have shared this experience with others who are facing crises.
ICOM remains committed to supporting the emergency responses for the museums affected.
ICOM offers our deepest condolences to the affected countries and the families of the victims. We also extend our sincere sympathy and support to all museum professionals in the impacted regions.
Do not hesitate to reach out to the Heritage Protection Department at the ICOM Secretariat (heritage.protection@icom.museum) or to the National Committees directly, should you wish to exchange with them on the matter or should you want to share some other best practices or experiences in this area.