Hundreds of people have died and hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and lost everything. While the emergency services pick through the debris and politicians blame each other, and make what may prove to be empty promises, a different kind of stocktaking is taking place.
Throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, museum workers are slowly returning to work, and, with specialist help, they are beginning to assess the damage to their institutions and collections. Of the many museums and historic houses in the area, a few succumbed completely to the power of the storm, while others sustained partial damage (see news p9).
It may seem trite to worry about museums when so many people are suffering, but it is right to assess the extent of the damage and learn the lessons in terms of disaster planning.
It's not clear yet whether museums in the affected area had disaster plans, or if they were able to activate them in time. One source has estimated that only a small number of museums in the US have viable disaster plans in place. If this is the case, work needs to be done to bring the others up to spec.
As far as the future is concerned, social history museums and their collections could be vital in helping communities cope with their losses.
Take the example of the Turkey Creek area in Mississippi, which was settled by free slaves after the Civil War. The residents have fought hard over the years to stop developers moving in, but after the storm it is not clear how much they will have to return to.
Museums, historical societies and social historians can help these communities piece together their collective past; record the events of the past few weeks and provide a springboard to the future.
In a similar vein - damage limitation- it looks like Britain will at last ratify the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of an Armed Conflict. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has launched a consultation on the best way for it to be implemented (www.culture.gov.uk/global/consultations/).
Once the list is finalised, the convention's signatories (all 114 of them) must agree not to bomb the sites that appear on it. Aside from wrangling about which museums are on the list (14 at the last count) the big question is whether all the parties will stick to the agreement if a war is declared. Ultimately though, the rules of war seem to be very similar to the rules of natural disasters - there aren't any.
Throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, museum workers are slowly returning to work, and, with specialist help, they are beginning to assess the damage to their institutions and collections. Of the many museums and historic houses in the area, a few succumbed completely to the power of the storm, while others sustained partial damage (see news p9).
It may seem trite to worry about museums when so many people are suffering, but it is right to assess the extent of the damage and learn the lessons in terms of disaster planning.
It's not clear yet whether museums in the affected area had disaster plans, or if they were able to activate them in time. One source has estimated that only a small number of museums in the US have viable disaster plans in place. If this is the case, work needs to be done to bring the others up to spec.
As far as the future is concerned, social history museums and their collections could be vital in helping communities cope with their losses.
Take the example of the Turkey Creek area in Mississippi, which was settled by free slaves after the Civil War. The residents have fought hard over the years to stop developers moving in, but after the storm it is not clear how much they will have to return to.
Museums, historical societies and social historians can help these communities piece together their collective past; record the events of the past few weeks and provide a springboard to the future.
In a similar vein - damage limitation- it looks like Britain will at last ratify the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of an Armed Conflict. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has launched a consultation on the best way for it to be implemented (www.culture.gov.uk/global/consultations/).
Once the list is finalised, the convention's signatories (all 114 of them) must agree not to bomb the sites that appear on it. Aside from wrangling about which museums are on the list (14 at the last count) the big question is whether all the parties will stick to the agreement if a war is declared. Ultimately though, the rules of war seem to be very similar to the rules of natural disasters - there aren't any.
