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SHER held a workshop entitled “Partners in Preparedness: Cultural Heritage Sites and the Emergency Response Community” at the Chatham County Hurricane Conference on May 24th, 2010. The workshop featured Lori Foley, Vice President for Emergency Programs with Heritage Preservation. Lori coordinates the activities of the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, a partnership of 41 national service organizations and federal agencies created to protect cultural heritage from the damaging effects of disasters. She also leads the National Alliance for Response project, which brings cultural heritage leaders and emergency responders together. SHER was represented at their 2010 Leadership Forum in Philadelphia and will be featured again at the Forum on Denver in 2011. Lori provided up-to-date insights on the effectiveness of Alliances between the Cultural Heritage Community and Emergency Management personnel based on the many recent incidents around the Country.
Following the workshop there was a breakout planning session to discuss what actions need to be taken this year to facilitate preparedness and disaster recovery plans for the cultural community in Chatham County.
Because of the collaboration between SHER and the Chatham Emergency Management Agency, SHER volunteers who have completed training will work at the Emergency Operations Center during a disaster event. This provides an opportunity for SHER volunteers to alert staff of cultural heritage sites who have evacuated to damage that may have occurred at their sites. This advance knowledge will enable staff to implement their disaster and recovery plans and make provisions for repairs and/or salvage operations.
This system only works if contact information is current and updated annually and for this reason we are asking you to resubmit your SHER membership form. Please complete and return the membership document at your earliest possible convenience.
In addition to the attached membership form there is a survey requesting you to give us feedback about the kind of training and information you would like. The survey will only take a few minutes to complete. Click here to fill out the survey. |
