In the wake of a decade which has seen some of the sector’s worst losses of collections and architecture, ICOM has formed a new Committee to support museums and heritage sites beset by human-caused or natural disasters.

The organisation’s primary aim is to create a new space for those engaged in cultural disaster risk management and improve sectoral collaboration with the international disaster risk management community. ​​

 

International Council of Museums
© ICOM

ICOM states the new Disaster Resilient Museums Committee will be open to all its members interested in disaster resilient museums and communities, a step it believes will expand its outreach.

The Committee was unveiled at the 25th ICOM General Conference in Kyoto; a fitting location given the prevalence of natural disasters such as earthquakes in Japan.

Disaster Resilient Museums Committee Team

The team leading the committee is comprised of:

Interim Chair
Cori Wegener, ICOM US ​

Elected Chair
Diana Pardue, ICOM Executive Board Member, ICOM US ​

Board Members
Brian Daniels, Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania, ICOM US
Yuji Kurihara, ICOM Japan ​
Ihor Poshyvailo, ICOM Ukraine

The UN Office of Disaster Risk Reduction and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 both acknowledge that preserving cultural heritage helps create more disaster resilient communities and helps speed recovery – an effort ICOM is now actively seeking to support.


More information on the Disaster Resilient Museums Committee is available here. 

Back to top