Primeaux Costep

COSTEP: Coordinated Statewide Emergency Preparedness for Cultural Resources 12th US/ICOMOS International aSymposium New Orleans, LA, March 14, 2009 by Aimée Primeaux Good morning, my name is Aimée Primeaux and I'm the project coordinator for COSTEP, a grantfunded project led by the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) in Andover, MA. I'm here today to tell you about COSTEP because we believe that it is a flexible model that can be adopted in any state in the U.S., or indeed country in the world. COSTEP (Coordinated Statewide Emergency Preparedness for Cultural Resources) is a framework designed to help agencies such as State Libraries, Archives, and Museums, work with emergency managers to prepare for area-wide disasters in their regions. First a little background. NEDCC is a non-profit regional conservation center specializing in the preservation of paper-based materials. In addition to a conservation lab, our Field Service Office offers technical assistance, workshops, surveys, and a 24/7 disaster assistance hotline. In 2005, after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita devastated the Gulf Coast we noticed that the State Archives and State Library agencies played major roles in helping coordinate recovery at the local level. Yet, coordination between the agencies, and with MEMA, was difficult in the midst of recovery. As usual, the lesson learned was that there needed to be better communication both before and after the disaster. We also saw this kind of state-level coordination during the flooding in Iowa this past summer, during which the State Historical Society helped coordinate communication and response. Although the focus in the COSTEP framework tends to be on collections (because of the nature of the grant-funding agency and NEDCC), historic property of all kinds are also included: buildings, monuments, sculpture, landscapes, etc. In 2006, NEDCC, in partnership with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the State Archives of Massachusetts, was awarded an Institute of Museum and Library Services grant to create a model for a statewide disaster plan for essential records and cultural resources. It quickly became evident that it was impossible to create a model plan that all fifty states could use. Each state is so vastly different from the next, and no one template will work for all of them. So, a framework, one which can be adapted to suit each state's needs, seemed more appropriate. We also realized that we needed to widen the scope to include museums and historic properties. Over the course of the last three years we have developed a framework and have tested it in states with vastly different organizational structures. Although the framework is still in development, we are currently editing the final document and expect to post it online, both as a .pdf and a website by the end of summer 2009. COSTEP will be free of charge, and freely adaptable for non-commercial purposes. Since we have a limited amount of time together today, I'm going to focus on explaining just what COSTEP is, how it works, and who should be involved. I will also provide some examples from our pilot states, and explain how COSTEP works with other initiatives which focus on cultural resources.

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First, What is COSTEP? COSTEP is a framework, but that's such a vague word...I like to call it an “action plan.” Because basically it tells you what to do to get a group of professionals together to prepare for a disaster in your state that might affect cultural resources. It helps you bring together cultural institutions and emergency management personnel, and organize state-level emergency preparedness and response for cultural resources. COSTEP recognizes that standard emergency management systems are already in place on the local, tribal, state, and federal levels, and that cultural resource institutions must work through this structure to receive assistance and resources. As we all know, establishing relationships and planning before a disaster strikes saves everyone time, money, and stress in the long-run. It is essential to work with emergency managers and utilize the tools already in place for hazard mitigation and risk analysis (why reinvent the wheel?). Throughout the framework we offer resources such as: suggested outcomes, suggested participants, possible objectives, first steps, and discussion topics. We will also provide a “starter kit” for people interested in starting COSTEP in their state, along with a slideshow “template” that can be used as you recruit team members. We understand that the work of coordinating statewide response is daunting, but the good thing is that a COSTEP program can be built in stages, and worked around busy schedules. No one expects statewide preparedness to happen over night. It will take time, and should be viewed as a process that will continue over time, rather than a project that begins and ends. Ideally, the COSTEP process will produce mitigation and response plans that can be integrated into existing state and local emergency plans and updated over time. The effort should be organized by a team of professionals from across the cultural and emergency management communities. We envision leadership coming from the State Library/Museum/Archives agencies (although it is really up to each state to decide who will take the lead). They will then assemble a team which might includ emergency managers, historic preservation officers, FEMA representatives, local libraries, archives, musuems or historic homes, private or academic institutions, historic sites.

COSTEP’s Primary Goals •

Build relationships between emergency managers and cultural resource institutions at the state, regional, and local levels.

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Educate cultural resource institutions about standard emergency management systems, and educate emergency managers about the diversity and needs of cultural collections.

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Develop procedures to facilitate emergency response and recovery for cultural resources in the event of a state, regional, or local disaster, and incorporate them into existing state emergency response plans.

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Conduct risk mitigation activities to reduce the effect of disasters on cultural resource collections statewide, and incorporate them into existing state mitigation plans.

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Enable better coordination between neighboring states in disasters 2

that cross state lines, or when help might arrive more quickly from across state lines To help you along the way we’ve organized COSTEP around five components: • •

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Getting Started – Getting started is sometimes the hardest part. This component explains who should be included, how to identify existing resources, and set initial goals. Building Key Relationships – Establishing relationships with key personnel in your state is one of the most important steps. This component encourages discussion and interaction, focusing on raising awareness of similarities and differences among agencies/institutions, and on building relationships. Mitigating Risks – Emergency management agencies conduct risk assessments within each state. This component considers existing risk assessments; component hazards are identified, risks are analyzed, and strategies are determined for mitigating those risks statewide. Preparing for Response – Focusing on preparation for the response and recovery phases of an emergency, this section is at the heart of the project. A timely and organized response will ensure human safety as well as proper salvage of collections. Sustaining the Process – This section includes training, and other ways to sustain the process over time.

For each component, we offer: Objectives, First Steps, Topics for Discussion, and Resources. The COSTEP team is also asked to come up with a list of Outcomes and Products for various stages of the process: essential, enhanced and excellent. So, in the beginning, you will work toward only the most “essential” goals for each component. For example, a list of “Essential” outcomes for the “Key Relationships” component might be: • Written list of participants • Revised mission statement for the COSTEP initiative, approved by the participants. • Date(s) for additional meetings of this group. While the “Enhanced” outcomes might include: • Detailed, written plan for proceeding with statewide emergency planning for cultural resources (e.g., prioritized issues to address, committee structure for the planning effort, future meeting schedule, and participants for future meetings). • Website or wiki to communicate information about the activities of the emergency planning group to individual institutions/organizations within the state. Case studies, tabletop exercises, a glossary, and sample agendas are also included, as well as an initial assessment, which can help the steering committee determine how to begin the process. COSTEP is not a “fill-in-the-blank” template, but instead an action plan designed to help you set up a system that will work in your state. In Massachusetts we have seen the group progress by leaps and bounds. Although there was a history of emergency preparedness for cultural resources, the COSTEP Massachusetts meetings have given representatives from federal, state, and local levels in both the cultural and emergency management communities the opportunity to get to know one another. MEMA(Mass. Emergency Management Agency) has sent representatives to every meeting and is currently helping to create a form for public libraries to give to their Emergency Management Director, so that information on their building and collections might be entered into their municipality's CEMP (Comprehensive Emergency Management 3

Plan). They are working with MEMA to establish a 19th ESF (Emergency Support Function) specifically for cultural resources, and have already incorporated cultural resources into the state's hazard mitigation plan. Our other pilot state, New Mexico, has been slower to progress, but they have identified a leadership team, and thanks to a system that is more centralized than Massachusetts, all museums, libraries, and monuments in the state will be included in the decisions that are made. Unfortunately they have had a great deal of turnover in their state emergency management agency, which has made organization difficult. They continue to meet, and slowly work toward their goals. COSTEP works with existing disaster preparedness initiatives. • The cultural community is fortunate that Heritage Preservation formed its Heritage Emergency National Task Force, which hosts conference calls and posts information on its website following a disaster. It's Alliance for Response forums could be developed as a way to sustain the preparedness created with COSTEP. • The Council of State Archivists (CoSA) created an Emergency Preparedness Initiative, and a project called IPER (Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records), both of which aim to better prepare State Archives for disasters in their states. COSTEP can serve as the platform to help facilitate work on these projects. • AIC-CERT, a program by the American Institute for Conservation which provides assistance from trained professionals, is a resource that a COSTEP team can list in their plan. They may also want to form their own version of a “rapid response team” in their state. I have brochures on AIC-CERT and Heritage Preservation for anyone interested. We will “go live” with the COSTEP website this summer. As I said before, it is a framework that is designed to be adapted and used as you see fit. It is free of charge and can work in any state in the U.S., or with a little more adaptation, country in the world. During development we created a wiki that you are free to visit, although just a warning: the most current draft of the framework hasn't been mounted yet. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions.

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