Man Made Disasters

6.4

Man-m ade Disasters

6.4.1 Introduction Even if it is true that our libraries are overflowing with books, never before in the history of mankind has there been a century as destructive to books as the twentieth. Two world wars and numerous armed conflicts have exacted their toll, many totalitarian regimes have purged libraries of publications and what is left is often damage d by water o r fire. Man h as been m ore destruc tive to the cultural h eritage than na ture. Mo st of this damage is caused wilfully. T o list all the causes o f destruction an d damag e in a worldw ide frequen cy and prio rity order is not feasible. Each region has its specific range of problems (Hoeven et al., 1996). Record custod ians may think of disasters as large, catastrophic events such as tor nadoes or flood s – dramatic natural events over which there is little, if any, control. Yet many disasters are events that only affect records w ithin a single repo sitory. But whe ther large or sm all, disasters can threaten the sec urity of record s. A single fire or flood can erase substantial portions of the unique recorded history of a community. To prepare for a disaster, we must first become aware of the potential dangers records face (Read, 1994). ICOMO S, the international NGO dedicated to the conservation of the world 's historic monuments and sites, has made its most recent report on Monuments and Sites in Danger available. From more than 60 countries the whole range of man-m ade dangers to cultural heritage is map ped, from the criminality of illegal excavations, the looting of churches for the international art trade, to the imp acts of mass global tourism. T he report is a first step toward recognising and recording monuments at risk, collecting information about the dangers they face, promoting action where catastrophes have already occurred, inspiring further commitments on national and international lev els and pro viding an ad ditional po sitive impulse for existing

Bibliography: Web and Literary Resources on the Archaeological Politics of Private Collecting, Commercial Treasure Hunting, Looting, and Professio nal Archae ology. For security manuals see Trinkaus-Randall, 1995 and Fennelly, 1983 (technically out-dated). For more on all possible locks see Dixon, 1999. For further reading see Allen, 1990 and 1994; Jackanicz, 1990; Lemmon, 1991; Moffet, 1988; Okotore, 1990; Okoye-Ikonta et al., 1981; Onadiran, 1988; Schmidt et al., 1996; Sozanski, 1999. 6.4.4 Neglect and v andalism Neglect is mostly caused by carelessness or a shortage of money but it can also be done on purpose. It covers several topics: the maintenance of the building, the handling of the objects by staff and patrons, and the pursuing of rules by staff (see also sections on Building and Storage). Other form s of neglect co ncern ob jects related to minorities, collections that have been removed by occupying forces as trophies or collections that have been removed to safer storage (Hoeven et al., 1996). These objects should be returned to their rightful custodians (see also section on Preservation and Conservation – Preservation in Developing Countries – Artefacts From the Tropics). In the meantime they must receive the same treatment in the storage room as the other objects in the collection (Nieç, 1998). Vandalism is frequently a sign of revenge (Hasan, 1974). This is confirmed by the report of a vandal who slashed a Dutch O ld Maste r painting with a k nife in the Dor drechts M useum in 19 89. The hooligan w as said to be unemployed and disgruntled with the fact that foreigners are employed in Holland (Talley, 1989). The Darwin facility of the Australian National Archives severely suffered from vandalism until a fence was erected around the perimeter o f the site (Ling, 19 98). The area arou nd the build ing should also be well lit Trees an d shrubs ha ve the disad vantage that the y can conce al people and can also be used to gain admittan ce to the building. Good fencing hinders trespassers and restricts unlawful transfer of property (Baxi, 1974a; Duchein, 1988; L ing, 1998 ; Teuling, 19 94). Ran dom pa trols of the site in the silen t hours by sec urity personn el is advisable (Baxi, 1974a). A survey of Indian museums from the early 1980s revealed that greater damage to objects was caused by neglect on the part of the curator than by any other agency (Agrawal, 1982b). Through proper training and education these problems could, at least partly, be prevented. Most of the websites mentioned under War and Theft will have some information on neglect and vandalism.