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Protecting Our Nation's Essential Records
Records identify who we are, secure our rights, and tell our
story as a nation. The Council of State Archivists launched its Emergency Preparedness Initiative in 2005 to raise awareness about the importance of protecting records from the kinds devastating losses brought on by Hurricane Katrina.
IPER Project
Records-related emergency training for state & local governments
Safeguarding
a Nation's Identity

This 2007
report to the President, Congress, Governors, and State Legislatures
of the United States set the stage for a broadscale effort to improve the readiness of state and local governments to protect
records.
Executive Summary
of the EPI report. The final version of the 8-page Executive
Summary of CoSA's Emergency Preparedness Initiative (EPI) report
is now available for download. We will be printing and distributing
copies broadly over the next several months.
Download
the Executive Summary: PDF (8pp; 3 MB)
Order
copies ($2.00 ea.)
Full version of
the EPI report
The full version of the report was published in February 2007.
Download
the full report: PDF (80pp; 1.5 MB) |

CoSA developed its Framework
for Emergency Preparedness during 2006 as a central focus of
Phase One of its Emergency Preparedness Initiative.
Guidelines
for Implementing the Framework for Emergency Preparedness --
includes instructions for customizing and reproducing the PReP™
documents.
Assessment
-- used by state archives and records management programs to evaluate
the status of their emergency preparedness
Pocket
Response Plan™ (PReP™)
Toolkit
-- provides Links to selected resources designed to help prepare for or
recover from natural disasters and other emergencies
Additional Emergency Preparedness Initiative resources
Response to 2005 hurricanes
and other disasters
The CoSA Emergency Preparedness Initiative was
developed in response to the devastating hurricanes of 2005. CoSA leaders
visited Mississippi and Louisiana in September and November of that year.
In April 2006, CoSA convened a "Hurricane Conference" that focused
not only on what states in the southeastern U.S. could do to prepare for
the next emergency, but what ALL state archives and records management
programs must do to protect archives and records in their states.
Visits to Mississippi
& Louisiana, Fall 2005
View
reports and photos from these trips.
CoSA Hurricane Conference,
April 18-20, 2006. Morrow GA
Press
release about the Hurricane Conference, April 18-20,
a central activity of Phase One.
Responses to other disasters
Photos
from earlier disasters affecting government records.
Emergency preparedness and recovery resources
available from State Archives
State archivists and records managers have long
recognized the need for emergency planning. They have championed the identification
and protection of records essential for ongoing government operations
as well as those that document our nation's rich cultural heritage.
Resources
available from state archives for emergency planning and response
Recovery from
water damage
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