Disaster? What is an Emergency? What is a
Disaster? What is an Emergency? What is a :
If you look at the literature on disasters, it is mostly about libraries and archives. Why? Perhaps because events that involve water and paper or leather quickly become disasters, whether fire or other circumstances are present or not. Also libraries and archives have a larger number of organic materials stored in one square meter, so there is a large quantity of material that can be affected by one incident, whether it is a fire or water-damage, and each item must be individually handled, often in an extremely fragile condition, and handled rapidly. We define a disaster as an emergency which is out-of-control, so what we prepare for are emergencies and if our planning is successful we will not have disasters. (From: Library of Congress, U.S.A./ http: //www.loc.gov/preserv/pub/seibert/whatsa.html on 26 June 2004)
