First aid to cultural heritage in times of crisis: toolkit

This toolkit is part of two-part publication created for the various actors involved in an emergency. It has been developed alongside the 'First aid to cultural heritage in times of crisis-handbook', to answer to the increasing need for cultural heritage professionals and humanitarians alike to have a reliable and user-friendly reference that integrates heritage safeguarding into emergency and recovery activities, offering standard operating procedures that are applicable in almost any crisis context. 

When disasters strike, local communities are the first to try and safeguard their cultural heritage, however their ability to intervene is often greatly reduced during complex and multi-faceted humanitarian crises. At the same time, first responders may not always be aware of what is culturally important, and they often lack the training to handle heritage objects and structures, and meet the specific needs those who bear traditional knowledge.

Therefore this toolkit is rich with checklists, templates and tips that can be customised to any situation. It aims to help to improve emergency preparedness within cultural heritage institutions, serve as a reference to train others, and act as a guide for planning and implementing coordinated cultural heritage first aid.