RALEIGH – Hurricane Irene demonstrated that advance preparation can go a long way to assist with storm recovery. A free public forum “Lessons Learned from Hurricane Irene” will be presented at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum on Monday, Feb. 6. N.C. Humanities Council Executive Director Shelley Crisp and museum staff will welcome participants. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m.
The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources’ Connecting to Collections Project organized the forum, which will include local, state and federal representatives and discussion of how the August 2011 storm was forecast and why it was so destructive. Presenters will share methods that individuals, businesses and museums can employ to protect themselves and their belongings in the event of a hurricane or other disaster.
Representatives from the National Weather Service, Dare County Emergency Management Office, and the National Park Service will participate in a roundtable discussion led by N.C. Department of Cultural Resources Disaster Preparedness Coordinator Matthew Hunt. Cultural Resources Restoration Specialist Reid Thomas will discuss working with FEMA, insurance companies, and mortgage companies; and representatives from the Outer Banks History Center will offer advice on how the center can help with long term preservation of family records.
The National Weather Service will give a weather spotting workshop demonstrating the SKYWARN program, explain how to “read” weather patterns, and give information on how to provide severe weather information to the weather service. Forum attendance in some cases may satisfy training requirements for the Certified Local Government Program. Contact Rob Crawford with the Historic Preservation Office at (919) 807-6580 for information.
A federal grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for the Connecting to Collections Initiative makes this forum possible. The N.C. Humanities Council, a statewide nonprofit and affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, also supports Connecting to Collections programs.
The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources, Office of Archives and History, works with the Connecting to Collections grant program to offer workshops and training opportunities to improve care of museum, archive and library collections across the state while also encouraging increased awareness of the importance of disaster planning.
About the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources annually serves more than 19 million people through its 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, the nation’s first state-supported Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the N.C. Arts Council, and the State Archives.
Cultural Resources champions North Carolina’s creative industry, which employs nearly 300,000 North Carolinians and contributes more than $41 billion to the state’s economy. To learn more, visit www.ncculture.com.