Plan ahead
It pays to plan ahead and be prepared for disasters of any size – whether a leak or a flood, a fire, or an earthquake. Being well prepared for disasters is a critical factor in coping with the salvage of precious personal items and heritage material.
Planning for disaster
Preservation staff at the National Library can provide advice on how to deal with damaged items and with planning for a disaster. There are also resources below to help with your planning.
Saving and protecting cultural heritage — Training and advice in the care and maintenance of cultural heritage collections, includes templates of disaster plans. Canterbury Disaster Salvage Team.
Disaster — Information for disaster planning, disaster response, fire, flood and mould. Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material.
How to make a disaster plan — PDFs Minimising Disaster, Emergency Procedures, Preventive Conservation. Te Papa, National Service Te Paerangi.
New Zealand Conservators of Cultural Materials — Website of professional association of conservators of cultural property in Aotearoa. Includes an online Find a conservator tool. New Zealand Conservators of Cultural Materials
Get in touch
In case of emergency, act quickly. Contact us for advice in protecting your collections from damage caused by fire, flood, earthquake, mould or pests.
Email — preservation@dia.govt.nz
Related content
Respond to a disaster
Information to help you respond to a disaster in an informed, calm, and timely way that focuses on stabilizing your damaged items and collections.
Help from the National Preservation Office
Find out how the National Preservation Office can help you. There is also a list of other conservation organisations and services that may be of assistance.
Funding agencies
There are a number of opportunities available to museums, libraries or archives wishing to undertake preservation projects.Plan, by Nick Youngson, Alpha Stock Images, CC BY_SA 3.0