November 12, 1998

CONTENTS:

Artist says 'poor' fakes sold well (Universal Time)

Sensormatic Adds Perspective to Media Reports About Anti-Theft Systems and Implanted Medical Devices

for museumsecurity list: 1998/99 edition of Disaster Recovery Sourcebook

1998/99 DISASTER RECOVERY RESOURCE GUIDE

1998/99 EDITION OF THE DISASTER RECOVERY YELLOW PAGES(tm) BEGINS SHIPMENTS - - - coincides with yet another disastrous season

Honduran damage

From Tegucigalpa

Yesterday I managed to make it from Copan to Tegucigalpa by car. There are two hairy crossings (lots of mud, narrow road and a large drop on the side) one just outside Santa Rita (a stone's throw from Stela 13) and the other one 44 kms from Tegucigalpa. In between there are tons of mudslides and road wash-outs, especially along bridges, but they are sufficiently repaired that they can be crossed with a bit of caution. The ravages of water have scarred the country viciously. In many, many places the stench of putrefaction is nauseating. The river banks are unrecognizable. Trees of all sizes, including giant ceibas of awesome proportions, have been toppled and carried away leaving the terrain barren. The strength of this raw nature is intimidating. Healing will take a long time. On the good side, access to Tegucigalpa by land was made possible yesterday (and I was one of the guys that snuck in) which means that desperately needed fuel and supplies are now starting to enter the city. The main fault is really severe and crossing the steep, muddy incline that has been improvised as a detour is very tricky. Only one car at a time is allowed into this slump and most get stuck. The fuel trucks have to be pushed through by a tractor. So progress is very slow but things are getting through up to now only the airport allowed access to the city. Within the next day or so, Tegucigalpa's access to the Pacific (Choluteca) should also be open. The same goes for the road from San Pedro to Ceiba. The road from Copan to San Pedro except for that bad segment right next to Santa Rita is really in fine shape. Basically any car can travel on it, and even the damaged section will be repaired shortly as I saw the heavy road-work crews approaching El Jaral as I left yesterday. So, as soon as the airport in San Pedro is open, which should also be real soon, tourists will be able to reach our site with relative ease not just from Guatemala. My family is well. Nobody has taken a shower in many days and there is a severe water-phobia. It is a huge contradiction that massive amounts of water have caused all this destruction and yet now it has become the most precious commodity, the most desperately needed resource, of this town! I brought some fresh vegetables, fruits and bread with me (from Siguatepeque) and they were a better sight to my relatives than the most expensive Christmas present they have ever been given. I now begin a new job as I join the relief effort. I will probably be working most with the First Lady and with Lito Castillo at the Chamber of Commerce. There is too much to do. The latest "official" stats that I have, read as follows: 7,000 dead, 8,500 missing, 485,000 displaced or severely affected, 99 bridges damaged, 62 major roads washed out, 431 neighborhoods severely impacted, all with a damage estimated at $718 Million. Damage to the productive sectors is estimated at $1,275 Million. Fortunately, help has been arriving. In particular we have to note the support of Mexico. They have taken a most personal interest in our situation and are providing invaluable aid. This is a first for us. According to my good friend, the Venerable John Park (whom many of your know from my previous emails, the following items are considered to be relief priority and will enter duty free:
canned goods
folding cots
tents
milk
tools for construction
insecticides
spray pumps for insecticides
clothing
grains such as beans and rice
medicines
saline solutions
anitpyretics
antitoxins for snake bites
antibiotics
analgesics
diarrhea medicine
antitussives (cough medicine)
antibacterial and antifungal skin creams
syringes
cotton
insulin
anti-hypertensive medication
first-aid kits
bandages
adhesive tape
plaster casting materials
suturing kits
vaccines for tetanus

Personally, I would have added whisky and guns!
Thank you all for you help
Ricardo Agurcia F.

FROM BOB SHARER: (If you have already received this, I apologize for sending it twice...)
Dear friends:
I know you have heard about the disaster in Honduras, but thought you would also want to know about the more specific problems and relief efforts for Copan. The following message from Copan pretty much sums up the problem for now-food, fuel, and supplies. David Sedat and I have authorized use of both our project vehicles to help the relief effort and we are fortunate that Bill Casselman is in Copan to help. I have also wired funds to Dr. Luis at the Copan relief account listed below and hope that all project members and friends of Copan can do the same-even if it is a small amount, it will help!

HURRICANE MITCH ENTERED THE COPAN VALLEY ON OCTOBER 30, 1998 AFTER BEING DOWNGRADED TO A TROPICAL STORM, AND DUMPED 25 INCHES OR MORE OF RAIN AND DEVASTATED THIS VALLEY. AS OF TODAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1998, THERE IS NO ACCESS OUT OF COPAN RUINAS AS FAR AS BRIDGES, ROADS, OR PLANES. MUCH OF THE ROAD FROM HERE TO SANTA RITA HAS BEEN INUNDATED WITH MUDSLIDES AND PART OF THE ROAD WASHED OUT LEAVING A SMALL WALKING PATH APPROXIMATELY 1 FOOT WIDE. BOTH BRIDGES ARE WASHED OUT WITH THE RIVER FLOODING ALL OF THE COPAN VALLEY. ALL CROPS ARE DESTROYED, NONE OF THE GAS STATIONS HAS FUEL, THERE ARE NO SUPPLIES COMING IN AND NO ONE CAN LEAVE. EVERYONE WAS EVACUATED TO THE MUNICIPALITY AND ARE BEING FED THERE AS WELL HAS HOUSED. WHILE THE RIVER HAS RECEDED THERE IS REALLY NO WHERE FOR THEM TO GO AS THEIR HOMES HAVE BEEN WASHED AWAY ALONG WITH ALL POSSESSIONS. FORTUNATELY THE DEATH TOLL IN THIS VALLEY HAS NOT BEEN HIGH BUT EVEN THE DEATH OF ONE PERSON IS TOO MANY, A FAMILY OF FIVE PEOPLE WERE DROWNED AFTER BEING EVACUATED BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO RETURN FOR THEIR CHICKENS. THESE HAVE BEEN THE ONLY FATALITIES SO FAR. AS OF TODAY MUCH OF THE COMMUNITY HAS JOINED TO CLEAR AN AREA FOR CARS TO PASS ACROSS THE RIVER. THERE IS NO FUEL AVAILABLE FOR VEHICLES. THERE IS NO WATER AVAILABLE BECAUSE THE NEW SYSTEM WAS WASHED AWAY AND THERE IS NO POTABLE WATER TO THE HOUSES. MOST RESTAURANTS ARE CLOSED AND TOURISTS ARE STRANDED. THERE HAS BEEN A RUN ON THE STORES FOR THE SUPPLIES THAT ARE AVAILABLE AND PRICE GOUGING IS RAMPANT. THIS IS ONLY THE SECOND DAY AFTER THE STORM AND WE ARE EXPERIENCING MANY SHORTAGES. WE HAVE JUST HAD A REPORT ANOTHER FRONT WILL BE COMING IN AND WILL ADD ANOTHER 20 INCHES TO THE RAIN WE HAVE ALREADY HAD. WE ARE DESPARATELY ASKING FOR YOUR HELP. THE AIRPORTS ARE UNDER WATER AND AVAILABILITY TO THIS COUNTRY IS ESTIMATED TO BE AT TWO WEEKS. NO GASOLINE IS COMING FROM THE PORTS AS THE ROADS ARE BLOCKED, IT WILL TAKE A LONG LONG TIME TO TRY TO GET BACK TO ANY TYPE OF NORMAL. WHAT WE ARE ASKING IS THAT THOSE OF YOU WHO CAN TO HELP WITH DONATIONS OF ANY TYPE. THIS INCLUDES CLOTHING, BLANKETS, WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEMS, CANDLES, ANYTHING YOU CAN THINK OF, FOOD ESPECIALLY, POWDERED MILK, IF YOU CAN THINK OF IT, WE NEED IT!!!!! FOR THE COPAN AREA AN ACCOUNT HAS BEEN SET UP AS FOLLOWS THROUGH THE BANCO OCCIDENTE IT IS A NON PARTISAN ORGANIZATION THAT IS STRICTLY PUT TOGETHER FOR THE HELP OF HURRICANE VICTIMS. IT IS AS FOLLOWS: COPAN RELIEF FUND C/O DR. LUIS A. CASTRO OR MIGUEL A. VALLADARES BANCO OCCIDENTE COPAN RUINAS HONDURAS ACCOUNT #255-3 FUNDS WILL BE USED TO BRING IN FOOD BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE HELICOPTER WILL BE THE ONLY WAY AVAILABLE FOR AWHILE. MORE INFORMATION CAN BE OBTAINED BY CALLING ELIZABETH OR MIKE VALLADARES AT 011/504 651-4152 OR EMAIL US AT justoatiempo@yahoo.com INFORMATION CAN ALSO BE OBTAINED THROUGH THE COPAN ASSOCIATION COPAN RUINAS, HONDURAS 011/504 651-4103 011/504 651-4628 FAX: 011/504 651-4625

IF YOU NEED INFORMATION ON WHERE TO SEND DONATIONS AS FAR AS CLOTHING, FOOD, MEDICINE, VOLUNTEER, ETC., PLEASE REFER ALL INQUIRIES TO CAMARA DE COMERCIO DE TEGUCIGALPA (CCIT) ATTENTION: LITO CASTILLO, COORDINATOR TELEPHONE: 011/504 225-3330 EMAIL ccit@hondutel.hn
camara@ccit.hn LITO CASTILLO IS COORDINATING PLANES, TRANSPORTATION, ETC., AND CAN CONNECT YOU WITH WHERE TO SEND YOUR DONATIONS. TEGUS HAS BEEN THE HARDEST HIT AND ANYTHING WILL HELP. LITO IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH ANY GOVERNMENT OR MILITARY PEOPLE AND WILL MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT ALL DONATIONS WILL GET WHERE THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO GO. HE IS ALSO A VERY GOOD FRIEND OF US IN COPAN.
Elin Danien
Research Associate
University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
Philadelphia PA 19104 E-Mail: edanien@sas.upenn.edu FAX: 215-321-7413
Phone: 215-493-5234

request, research on stolen cultural properties

The library is burning

Stolen Stradivarius Violins

Sprinkler System Thoughts

Steve Keller and Associates, Inc., Museum Security Consultants, is pleased to announce that they have been selected by Microsoft Corporation to write a section of the Encarta interactive electronic encyclopedia dealing with motion detectors and security

Regarding the motion detector inquiry,

Two Constables are stolen from V&A Museum (Daily Telegraph)

TWO oils by John Constable worth UKPounds:800,000 are believed to have been stolen from the Victoria & Albert Museum, which has the largest collection by the artist in the world. The small paintings have vanished from a supposedly secure room, to which the public have no access, at the museum's main site in South Kensington, London. Dr Alan Borg, director of the museum, said that police were informed yesterday after a search through more than one million items in the Prints and Drawings Study Room failed to locate them. They had last been seen in August when they had been logged in a routine audit of the prints and drawings department's holding. The works are two oil sketches, Dedham Lock and Mill (c 1810-1815) and Sketch for Valley Farm (c 1835) painted near his birthplace on the Suffolk-Essex borders as studies for much larger paintings. Their disappearance is a security disaster for the V&A. Dr Borg said yesterday that the study room was a "restricted access area". Only staff and accredited visitors such as researchers were allowed into the room. The theft of art and antiques- estimated at UKPounds:3 billion worldwide last year - has become a huge criminal industry. But thefts from Britain's national museums, which have expensive security precautions, and particularly from restricted areas, is relatively rare. Dr Borg would not comment on speculation that the theft may have been the work of an insider. He said that fire escapes made the area less secure than was ideal.