The Bermuda Disaster Preparedness Workshop was attended by two members of staff of the National Archives of Trinidad and Tobago; Mr. Victor Alfred, Archive Repairer I and Ms. Liselle Young, Archive Assistant I.
The aims of the workshop which ran from the July 24-25, 2007 were to:
- Educate and sensitize persons on the importance of being prepared for different forms of disasters
- Highlight the proper methods and techniques involved in salvaging damaged documents
- Demonstrate the importance of having a well organized plan for handling different forms of disasters
- Provide guidelines for the preparation of a disaster plan
Here are some useful tips on disaster planning provided by this course.
What is a disaster?
- A disaster is a sudden unplanned event that produces great material damage, loss and distress.
Why is disaster planning important?
- Likelihood of emergencies happening
- Protection of records
- Continuity of institution’s mission
- Professional responsibility
Disaster Response Checklist:
- Assess the situation
- Convene the response team members
- Set up a command post
- Establish security measures
- Get clearance to enter the building
- Eliminate hazards
- Assess the damage to collectors
- Assess the situation:
- Minor emergency
- Moderate emergency
- Major emergency
The Northeast Document Conservation Centre has an online disaster planning tool which serves as a guideline to an organisation formulating their disaster plan. This planning tool can be found at the following website- www.dplan.org and the Northeast Document Conservation Centre’s website iswww.nedcc.org.