6th International Disaster and Risk Conference IDRC 2016 Integrative Risk Management - Towards Resilient Cities. 28 August - 01 September 2016 in Davos, Switzerland

1. Who Can Save our Cultural Heritage in Time
of War
Laila Houssein Moustafa
Assistant Professor
University of Illinois –Urbana Champaign –
USA
6th International Disaster and Risk Conference -
IDRC Davos 2016

2. Second World War
• History offers examples of how librarians and archivists
have worked with other groups to save threatened
collections. For example, archivists and librarians
worked with the US Army during World War II to create
the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archive program (MFAA)

3. Recent Conflicts in the
Middle East
Sites of Conflict
● Iraq-Kuwait War (1991)
● Iraq Invasion(2003)
● Lebanon (2006)
● Syria (2009)
● Yemen (2009)
● Tunis (210)
● Bahrain (2011)
● Cairo (2013)

4. Current Conflict Summary, Middle East Region

5. Types of Disasters

6. Natural Disasters

7. Man-Made and Technological Disasters
War and
Destructive
Civil Unrest
Nuclear
Power
Plant
Accidents
Chemical
and
Biological
Weapon
Use
Explosions

8. FLOODING
Between 1994 and 2013:
• 6,873 natural disasters occurred worldwide.
• These disasters claimed 1.35 million lives.
• Flooding accounted for 43% of all recorded events and
affected nearly 2.5 billion people.
Source: EM-DAT.

9. Destruction of Cultural Heritage
• Destruction of cultural heritage has been a frequent casualty of war
throughout history.
• However, under ISIS it became a targeted strategy in Iraq and other
countries in the Middle East.

10. Mosul Dam

11. Mosul Dam In the News (Last 10 Years)
• May 2003 – Iraqi Dam has Experts on Edge until Inspection Eases
Fears.
• September 2005 – Mosul Dam Repairs: Progress With Safety,
Electricity, Irrigation for Tigris Basins.
• October 2007 – Iraqi Dam Seen In Danger of Deadly Collapse.
• October 2007– Project to Reinforce Iraq’s Largest Dam
Mismanaged, Audit Says.
• October 2007– Lack of Security Limits Iraq’s Recovery.
• 2014 – Fighting Reported as Peshmerga and Iraqi Troops Try to
Recapture Mosul Dam from Islamic State Group.
• 2016 – Mosul Dam in Critical Need of Repair. Why Control of a
Terrifying Dam in Iraq is Life or Death for a Half Million People.

12. Mosul Dam History
• Iraq started plans to mange its water resources for
agriculture and to prevent flooding in Mosul and
Baghdad at the turn of the 20th century.
• In the 1950s, planning for the Mosul Dam began.
• Many studies were carried out by international
companies (American, Russian, Finland, and
Yugoslavian).
• Location of the dam was a challenge because of the
complex ground (land)

13. Mosul Dam: Features
• Dam was built by 1983, and was the largest dam in Iraq.
• Originally named the Saddam Dam. In 2003, its name was
changed to the Mosul Dam.
• Dam is about 60 KM upstream of Mosul city on the Tigris
River.
• The structure of the dam impounds approximately 12B cubic
meters of water.
• It provides irrigation and drinking water to the surrounding
region and downstream through Baghdad.
• It generates more than 300MW in electricity for the region.

14. The challenges of the Dam Foundation
• Since it was built it shows sign of leakage, and it is under
constant repair.
• Today the dam is in danger of catastrophic failure.
• A collapse would endanger the lives of people in Mosul
city, parts of Baghdad, and other small cities and villages
as a result of the flood wave.
• Survivors in these cities and town will have no electricity,
clean water, and it is possible humanitarian emergency
services will have difficulty reaching them.
• Culture heritage will be affected if measures are not
taken.

15. Expectations Under Disastrous Collapse
• A 20 meter high wave of
water hits Mosul.
• Wave will still be 5 meters
high by the time it
reaches Baghdad.
• A half million people
would lose their lives
• Since it provides almost
half of Iraq's power
supply needs, damage
would be catastrophic.

16. Cultural Heritage in Mosul
• In 2016 antiquities officials in Iraq and Syria warn of a disaster as
the region's history is erased.
• Cultural sites in Mosul go back 5,000 years, numerous civilizations
have left their mark on upper Mesopotamia such as the Assyrians,
Akkadians and Roman.
• Cultural sites include Jewish and Christian sites in addition to
Islamic sites.
• Now much of its archaeological wealth is under the control of
extremists from the Islamic State group, who have deliberately
demolished some artifacts.

17. The Middle East
• A survey about the existence of emergency management
plans in public and academic libraries and archives in
Middle Eastern countries including Iran, Turkey and
Afghanistan, published in 2015, shows
• % 86 local public and academic managers, librarians
and archivists in 19 countries responded to the survey.
• The vast majority of the institutions that responded, %84
percent, did not have a written one .
• Only %13 institutions responded affirmatively, and
another five respondents answered that they were in the
process of preparing plans.

18. What Should Be Done

19. Protecting and Preserving Cultural
Heritage

20. Four stage for Disaster Management
Planing
• Phase 1 : Prevention
• Phase 2 : Preparedness
• Phase 3 : Response
• Phase 4 : Recovery
•

21. Start with
Prevention, Prevention, Prevention…

22. Key Stakeholder Cooperation
More cooperation is needed between:
o Local Government.
o Local communities.
o Researchers.
o Librarians and archivists.
o Archeologists.
o Institutions, or NGOs
o Funders.
o International community

23. International Level
• International organizations need to be involved in
protecting cultural sites in the event of armed
conflict. Some organizations are now working in
Syira.
• Disaster management planning needs to be
internationally mandatory.
• UNESCO protection of more Middle East sites
need to be increased.
• Training and funds need to be available to local
organizations and institutes.