Esperienze di disaster recovery di documenti danneggiati dall'acqua

Firenze 1966 — New Orleans 2005

Abstract

A disaster is a catastrophic event which strikes suddenly and widely. It can be due both to natural forces and human violence. It causes huge destruction, many victims and severe damages to buildings and objects. Documents, considered in their dual capacity of cultural heritage and source of information for public and private organizations, are often victims of these circumstances. Disaster planning is therefore an issue of fundamental importance because it limits the damage through targeted preventive measures and appropriate recovery responses. This research is particularly focused on the stages of documentation recovery in response to two major natural disasters of the last sixty years: the Florence flood in 1966 and Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005. Through a precise reconstruction of events and actions taken to save documents and papers from water and mud, it was possible to compare the two events, though spatially and chronologically distant. This allowed to examine similarities and differences and highlighted the importance of the Florentine solutions for the development of this field of studies.