Since the inception of the Iberarchives Programme, projects have been supported to carry out preventive actions against the effects of disasters on archives, caused by different types of catastrophes: fire, water, physical forces and meteorological phenomena or by human action, through acts of vandalism, sabotage, acts of war or simply accidental failures.
From 2019, the Intergovernmental Board has established a reserve of the budget of the annual call for projects that fall within the above-mentioned situations, under the action line “promoting disaster prevention in archives”.
Iberarchivos has financed numerous projects related, firstly, to the rescue of archives that have been affected by natural disasters and, secondly, projects related to the development of preventive plans to avoid extreme situations or to safeguard documentary heritage in the event that they occur.
Rescue
- Haiti earthquake 2010: first aid
One of the projects related to rescue measures is project 2009/209 in which the General Archive of the Dominican Republic, faced with the emergency situation that Haiti was experiencing as a result of the 2010 earthquake, proposed a project to channel aid to the National Archives of Haiti, receiving a grant of 17,000.00 from the Programme. The amount was used to establish a diagnosis of the National Archives of Haiti and the main minor archives affected; design a comprehensive operational plan; an operational proposal for the archives and support and intervention actions in first aid.
- Ecuador Earthquake 2016: emergency recovery
Another example is project 2015/111. On 16 April 2016, an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale occurred in Ecuador, the epicentre of which was located in the canton of Pedernales (Manabí), mainly affecting the provinces in the coastal region of the country. The government of Ecuador declared a “State of Emergency” and the Ministry of Culture and Heritage created a Technical Emergency Committee of Culture and Heritage for the evaluation, emergency recovery and rehabilitation of cultural heritage and memory repositories, including archives, which had been affected by the earthquake. This Committee created a “Register of affected historical archives” which was updated thanks to the project developed by the National Archive of Ecuador, by adapting the forms for the collection of information in each archive, carrying out visits to the eighty archives in the provinces and, finally, preparing reports on each of these visits.
- Rehabilitation of the General Archive after the hurricanes in Puerto Rico
Project 2017/001, developed by the Archivo General de Puerto Rico – Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, received a grant of €20,000.00 from the UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize. The objective of the Prize is to promote universal access to information and knowledge and the Iberarchivos Programme won this award in 2017. Thanks to the project, the Archive’s headquarters, damaged by hurricanes Irma and María, were refurbished, allowing the service rooms to be adapted, stabilising the documentary collection and facilitating public access to the documents.
- More than 100,000 files affected after the El Niño Costero phenomenon in Piura, Ecuador
The latest example is project 2019/028 (cleaning of judicial files) developed by the Superior Court of Justice of Piura, which received a grant of 8,000 euros. Piura is a city located in the central west of the region of the same name, in the Piura river valley, north of the Sechura desert, 981 km north of Lima and close to the border with Ecuador. In 2017, the Piura region suffered from the “El Niño Costero” weather phenomenon. The overflowing of the river affected the Central Archive of the Superior Court of Justice, affecting more than one hundred thousand judicial files. The project lasted 5 months and consisted of carrying out the necessary rescue, cleaning and conservation measures for the correct preservation of the files. In addition, the documents were classified and inventoried.
Prevention
In the framework of the programme, some projects have also been developed to implement prevention plans for possible emergencies.
- Preparing for the worst: creating an emergency plan
Project 2007/171, developed by the Luis Muñoz Marín Foundation of Puerto Rico, received a grant of 3,731.00 for the drafting of an Emergency Plan structured in 4 parts
I.- Disaster Prevention
II.- Disaster Preparedness
III.- Disaster Response
IV.- Recovery. - Emergency Management Plan
The National Archive of Chile received a grant of €7,247.00 also from UNESCO/Jikji for the project 2017/002. Research project on archival preservation, which compiles in a single text the knowledge installed in Ibero-America on natural disasters and how to respond to these phenomena from the archives. The text analyses the situation of Ibero-American archives, addresses the development of emergency management plans and compiles related bibliography. The text is available here –>Compilationof the current situation of Ibero-American archives for emergency management preparedness.
- First Aid Kit
Project 2020/018, carried out by the Archivo General de Puerto Rico – Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña was recently developed and received a grant of 10.000,00 euros. The purpose of the project was to develop and implement a Pocket Rapid Response Plan to facilitate the response in an emergency situation and to intervene quickly with the use of immediately available equipment and materials.