Strengthening of Historic Buildings in Post-Disaster Cases

Cultural heritage conservation helps a community not only protect economically valuable physical assets, but also preserve its practices, history, and environment, and asense of continuity and identity. Cultural property may be more at risk from the secondary effects of a disaster than from the disaster itself, therefore quick action will beneeded. Built vernacular heritage offers a record of a society’s continuous adaptation to social and environmental challenges, including extreme events, such as past disasters. This record can often be drawn on to design mitigation strategies for new construction orretrofitting. Cultural heritage conservation plans are best designed before a disaster, but, in their absence, heritage authorities can and should collaborate to develop effectivepost-disaster heritage conservation strategies. Because vernacular cultural properties are sometimes capable of withstanding local climate conditions, they may serve as safe havens where surrounding communities can temporarily relocate.At the international level, the 2005 Kyoto Declaration on the Protection of Cultural Properties, Historic Areas, and Their Settings from Loss in Disasters established aframework for work on the preservation of cultural properties and historic areas. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), theInternational Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), and the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS)are closely involved in the implementation of the Kyoto Declaration, including workingto reduce disaster risk at World Heritage sites. These agencies are often active in postdisaster situations and may provide technical assistance to public officials and owners ofheritage assets. This article addresses the importance of protecting the cultural heritage of communities, especially traditional housing, which should be an integral part of any post-disaster recovery program.

کلیدواژه ها:

Cultural Heritage ، Historic Buildings ، Post-Disaster ، Strengthening