2007 News Releases
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October 17, 2007
Texas State Library and Archives Commission to develop statewide disaster
preparedness training through FEMA-funded national initiative
Austin – State agencies and local governments throughout Texas
will be better prepared for emergencies thanks to $2.6 million recently
awarded to the national Council of State Archivists (CoSA) by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The funding for the national initiative
will enable the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to provide
critical training and services to state and local government agencies
throughout Texas.
When state and local governments are faced with natural or manmade disasters,
certain records help them respond to and recover from the emergency. The
Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records (IPER) project will
develop workshops nationwide designed to teach state and local government
officials and employees how to identify and protect their most essential
records and recover those damaged by disasters. According to Vicki Walch,
Executive Director of CoSA, the need for such a program became apparent
in 2005, during the organization’s response to Hurricane Katrina.
“Archivists discovered that records were not identified as an asset
of government in the National Response Plan,” said Walch. “We
knew from experience that whether a disaster is a localized fire or a
widespread terrorist attack, the governments that have good records management
in place are best prepared to respond to and recover from an emergency.”
The benefit to Texas will be immense, according to Dr. Michael Heskett,
Texas state records administrator and director of the State and Local
Records Management division of the State Library and Archives. “Texas
is prone to hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, and much else, and
any one of these threaten lives and can destroy the history of a community.
Texas communities are in great need of training to plan and prepare for
disasters that would threaten their vital records. A post-Rita survey
of East and Southeast Texas indicated that half of the government entities
surveyed did not have a Disaster Recovery and Preparedness Plan in place
when the storm hit.”
The IPER initiative will develop a national curriculum and create Web-based
seminars, which will be customized to meet specific needs and concerns
at the state and local levels. A team from Texas will add guidance and
resources specific to our state and then deliver the training to state
and local government agencies statewide. The Texas State Library and Archives
Commission will coordinate the Texas team, which will include representatives
from the Governor’s Emergency Management Division, the Department
of Information Resources, and local governments. The regional offices
of the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and the Federal
Emergency Management Agency in Denton will actively participate as well.
Outlining the impact the program will have, Rex Wamsley, director of
FEMA’s national Continuity of Operations Division, noted that the
“development of common training for use in each of the states will
enhance the potential for inter-governmental cooperation throughout the
nation. FEMA’s national and regional offices have been working actively
with the National Archives and state archives for the last two years to
protect essential records. We want to ensure that governments at all levels
can recover and resume operations quickly following a natural disaster
or other emergency. Records are key to that process. The IPER project
will allow us to reach into every county, city, and village nationwide,
giving officials the information they need to protect essential records
in time of crisis.”
The Texas State Library and Archives Commission, in addition to its support
of Texas libraries, administers the State Archives and provides records
management assistance to state agencies and local governments in Texas.
The IPER project training will be available to Texas state agencies and
local governments by 2010.
Photos
relevant to the Intergovernmental Preparedness for Essential Records (IPER)
project
Contact the Public
Information Office
512-463-5514
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