ICOMOS launches Kerala Heritage Rescue Initiative

International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) launched Kerala Heritage Rescue Initiative to assess damage to rich cultural and built heritage sites in flood-devastated Kerala. ICOMOS is global monument conservation body.

Kerala Heritage Rescue Initiative

The initiative aims at setting up platform for emergency response to cultural heritage damaged by the floods in Kerala. It also has set Facebook page to collect information on the damage to buildings, museum collections, cultural artefacts, libraries, archives, and even intangible heritage.
Under this initiative, ICOMOS will assess damage and risks to rich tangible, intangible, movable and immovable heritage that has been adversely affected by floods, including monuments, historic buildings, museum collections and artefacts of important significance. It will also create heritage response team and train its members to undertake damage assessment and emergency measures.
ICOMOS has also approached International Centre for Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) to partner in post-disaster work. ICCROM based in Rome (Italy) is inter-governmental organisation dedicated to preservation of cultural heritage worldwide through training, information, research, cooperation and advocacy programmes.

Background

Kerala is endowed with natural beauty and is home to number of iconic forts, palaces and other heritage buildings, which attract huge number of tourists every year. It is facing its worst floods in nearly century due to heavy rainfall that has left 223 dead and forced over 10 lakh people out of their homes. The Central Government has declared this calamity of ‘severe nature’.
Note: Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction calls for cultural heritage and its protection to help in building resilience and enhance ability of the affected population to participate in its own recovery.

International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)

ICOMOS is global monument conservation body (non-government organisation) dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology and scientific techniques for conservation of architectural and archaeological heritage across the world. It is also advisory body to UNESCO for cultural heritage, in particular for implementation of World Heritage Convention. It was founded in 1965 in Warsaw (Poland) as a result of the Venice Charter of 1964. It is headquartered in Paris, France.