Contact:
Preservation Department
Hamilton Library
University of Hawai´i
2550 McCarthy Mall
Honolulu, Hawai´i 96822
Phone: (808) 956-6623
E-mail: preserve@hawaii.edu
Preservation Department
Disaster Response
Saturday October 30, 2004
at 8PM a flash flood surged
through the ground floor of Hamilton Library.
Everything in the path of
the water was thrown against structural walls.
Silt was everywhere in map drawers, in between maps; there were even fish in the Library’s server room.
This map
shows path of the water down Manoa valley, across Maile
way into the Library.
The evening of October 30th the flood waters were still high in the ground floor and we could make a comprehensive assessment. However key staff met to determine priorities (rescue maps and aerial photographs of Hawaii and the Pacific region).
The Library Preservation Department staff were prepared to respond – we had a disaster plan in place and staff were trained. Our first goal was to move materials out of the mud into a freezers as fast as possible.
Five freezer containers were delivered Sunday evening and by Monday morning staff began moving maps out of the building to a staging area and then loading them into the containers.
Following this same procedure the aerial photographs were also frozen.
To prevent a mold outbreat (secondary disaster) the remaining five floors of Hamilton Library needed to have cool dry air brought in using generators. There was no electricity for three months while a temporary solution was created to override the damaged infrastructure.
The dry air was cirulated on every floor and indeed prevented a mold outbreak. Library staff and students paged books for patrons in the dimly lit library.
