Report on activities to rescue natural-history specimens in Miyagi Prefecture for restoration of museum activities in the damaged area

• Published in: Fossils Vol. 93; pp. 75 - 82
• Main Authors: Sasaki, Osamu, Ehiro, Masayuki, Nemoto, Jun, Kano, Harumasa, Mochiduki, Naoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Palaeontological Society of Japan 31.03.2013
• Subjects: disaster-affected cultural properties; Miyagi Prefecture; salvage; Utatsu Ichthyosaur Museum
• ISSN: 0022-9202; 2424-2632
• DOI: 10.14825/kaseki.93.0_75

The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku and the subsequent tsunami severely damaged many cultural facilities along the eastern coast of Japan. The Committee for Salvaging Cultural Properties was established in Tokyo through an appeal to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, and the local headquarters of the Committee in Miyagi was established in the Sendai City Museum beginning April 19. The staffs of local museums and the Cultural Properties Protection Section of Miyagi Prefecture joinded operations to salvage cultural properties in Miyagi. Tohoku University Museum joined this enterprise to salvage natural-history collections from 6 facilities. Many museum collections were lost in this disaster, but most of the collections exhibited in the Utatsu Ichthyosaur Museum were successfully rescued. After emergency salvage operations decreased, the Miyagi Liason Conference for preserving damaged cultural properties was established to assume salvage operations from the local headquarters, which was closed by the end of July. In anticipation of the next disaster, manuals for salvaging cultural properties from damaged facilities should be prepared based on our direct experience; detailed information on the location of specimens will be required, and contact addresses for specimen managers and curators. As disaster-affected cultural properties are returned from restoration to the damaged museums, many curators will be needed to resume museum activities, including research, exhibition, and education. To secure the many curators needed in the damaged area, we must consider flexible solutions, including establishment of NPOs for reconstructing damaged museums with financial support from the disaster-affected museums recovery project.