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What would you do if your cemetery suffered a disaster -- was hit by a tornado, was flooded, was vandalized? Most cemetery caregivers are woefully unprepared for a disaster. As a result cemeteries often never recover, or at least never recover fully, from a disaster. This page will provide some quick guidance for before and after.

Before the disaster

Wind damage (tornado, hurricane, trees)

Vandalism (toppled stones, stolen items, automobile accidents)

Flooding

Where to go for help


Before the Disaster

Too often no special steps are taken to prepare a cemetery for problems. As a caregiver you have a very special responsibility to be prepared -- to mitigate the effects of any potential disaster, thereby lessening the affects.

Through documentation. This means having a map showing each and every stone, walkway, road, drain, water line, or other feature. You will need this to plan recovery and repair efforts, to know for certain that a particular stone is missing, to ensure that recovery efforts don't cause additional damage. It also means have photographs and documentation for the individual stones and features (such as gates). This will help determine the extent of the damage and the need for repair. If a stone or cemetery gate is stolen the photograph will be essential for reporting the loss and helping law enforcement in efforts to recover the stolen items.

Hardening the target.  While you can't prevent all damages, you can take proactive steps to minimize some losses. Ensure that stones are well-set and that gates are secured. Contact the cemetery's neighbors and ask their assistance in overseeing what goes on in the cemetery -- ask them to be extra eyes and ears. Install bollards at fences immediately bordering roads or at corners.

Daily inspections. This will ensure that you immediately identify any problem -- man-made or natural. You will know within a very narrow range of time when a gate was stolen or when a stone was vandalized. Your periodic presence in the cemetery will deter much vandalism.

Careful maintenance. Having a certified arborist yearly evaluate your cemetery's trees and their needs, do preventative pruning, and maintain the health of the trees will help ensure that there is minimal wind damage.

Know who to call. Make certain that you are familiar with the help that is available. For example, become familiar with how FEMA operates and the possibility of having federal assistance to repair a cemetery if it is damaged in a Presidentially declared disaster. Know how to report vandalism or theft and make certain there is a procedure in place to document the loss and the report (here is a form to help). And have a media plan in place -- explain to the community the loss and what they can do to help your cemetery recover. It is also good practice to have a conservator on-call. This is standard practice with museums, libraries, and archives since it helps ensure that you get quick response when you need it most - a conservator can assist with a stone-by-stone assessment, evaluation of landscape damage, even with the recovery of your cemetery business records.

Wind Damage

Examples of wind damage include up-rooting of trees or downed branches -- often with damage (breakage or toppling) to stones, fences, or other features. Tornadoes can actually move (or even remove) stones. Other damage can occur through improper clean-up.

Immediately assess the damage on a stone-by-stone or feature-by-feature basis. You must have explicit information concerning the number of broken stones, missing stones, collapsed box tombs, downed trees, topped trees, downed limbs, etc.

Photograph the damage. You will want to photograph the damage in order to have clear documentation of your cemetery's losses. These photos may be used to help apply for funding from FEMA, provide documentation for individual family insurance claims, or even by the media in fundraising efforts. They will also be essential for a conservator to begin to prepare treatment plans for repair of stones or fences.

Avoid additional damage during clean-up. Don't make a bad situation worse by inappropriate clean-up efforts. Don't allow trash collection vehicles on-site if the soils are wet or the vehicles begin to bog-down. As a general rule all vehicles should remain on pre-existing roadways and downed timber should be hand carried to the vehicles. Ensure that all stones and fences (whether intact or damaged) are protected. This may necessitate the use of canvas covers or even timber cribbing. Make certain that you use only certified arborists with specialized training and equipment to removed damaged trees without injury to the stones. Make certain that they are appropriated bonded and injured. Never pay for any clean-up up-front -- and get a signed contract that specifies exactly what will be done and how you expect the work to take place.

Always save all fragments -- throw away nothing! Just because a stone is shattered doesn't mean that it can't be repaired. But the repair will be much more costly if parts are thrown away -- or run over by heavy equipment. Everything should be carefully gathered up and -- as far as possible -- identified as to source. All these materials must be carefully safeguarded until conservation treatments can begin on the site.

Recovery must be holistic. You will need to think not just about the repair of stones, but also about the landscape. How will you repair the loss of trees (what trees will be replanted and where)? What repairs may need to be made to the roadways after debris removal is complete? Your goal should be to return the cemetery to as near original condition as possible.

Vandalism

Immediately contact law enforcement and safeguard the crime scene. That's right -- your cemetery has become a crime scene and you need to ensure that tire prints in the soft grass, discarded cans of spray paint, trash that might contain a name, remains intact and untouched. You may also need to insist that law enforcement treat vandalism as the crime (typically a felony) that it is. You may even need to be willing to contact your media, perhaps even your state police, to have evidence collected. Do not give up, do not be bullied -- you and your cemetery are the victims, expect to be treated with respect and be given immediate attention. Then keep the pressure on your law enforcement to solve the case. A list of law enforcement sites can be found here. This is an alternative site.

Be willing to prosecute and demand justice. If you are fortunate enough to find the vandals, demand justice. Demand that the case be prosecuted with vigor.  Local citizens with family buried in the cemetery should be called on to go to court to make a clear statement to the presiding judge that this is a crime against the community and you expect justice. Demand restitution from the criminals. If the case must be pled down make certain that your cemetery's interested are respected. Involve the media at every step -- make certain that future vandals are aware that they will be caught, they will be prosecuted, and they will pay.

Immediately assess the damage on a stone-by-stone or feature-by-feature basis. Once the crime scene investigation is complete you must have explicit information concerning the number of broken stones, missing stones, stolen gates, spray painted items, etc.

Photograph the damage. You will want to photograph the damage in order to have clear documentation of your cemetery's losses. These photos may provide documentation for individual family insurance claims, or by the media in fundraising efforts. They will also be essential for a conservator to begin to prepare treatment plans for repair of stones or fences.

As quickly as possible, repair the damage. The longer you leave vandalism unattended the greater the likelihood that there will be more. Immediate repairs make it clear that the cemetery is respected, has a constituency, and is being cared for. Leaving damage unattended will also make future repairs harder -- stone fragments disappear, paint gets harder to remove, and people lose interest.

Learn from the problem. What allowed the vandalism to happen and what can you do to minimize future similar experiences? If a gate was stolen, then you need to secure all remaining gates. If stones were toppled, you need to better patrol the cemetery, using local law enforcement, volunteers, and neighbors. If you ignore vandalism, it will return.

Flooding

Understand the threat. If your cemetery is in a floodway, have you considered birms to redirect water? Are your drains kept clear at all times?  If you have particularly valuable markers or gates, do you have steps in place to guard them against damage from slowly rising flood waters? Understand, too, that flooding damage may involve sinkholes (where sections of your cemetery may simply disappear), mechanical damage as flood waters topple or shift stones (causing damage to the initial stone, as well as damage to other stones it may strike), heavy trash and mud deposits (as the flood waters recede, they will leave everything they were carrying with them -- and this can be quite disgusting), and damage to vaults, coffins, and human remains (vaults and coffins may be washed out of graves or may float; coffins may burst, exposing human remains; human remains may be displaced considerable distances from the cemetery). Some of these damages may pose public health threats and will involve various agencies tasked with the recovery, identification, and reburial of human remains.

Immediately assess the damage on a stone-by-stone or feature-by-feature basis. You must have explicit information concerning the number of broken stones, toppled stones, displaced stones, silt covered sections of the grounds, toppled trees, etc.

Photograph the damage. You will want to photograph the damage in order to have clear documentation of your cemetery's losses. These photos may provide documentation for individual family insurance claims, to FEMA if the flooding is a declared disaster, or by the media in fundraising efforts. They will also be essential for a conservator to begin to prepare treatment plans for repair of stones or fences.

Begin clean-up of debris. You will want to remove sediment from roadways to allow recovery vehicles back in the cemetery. You must remove sediments from drains to help prevent future flooding by water with nowhere to go. You will need to begin collecting all of the debris that was left by the flood waters -- tires, plastic bags, cans, furniture. All this will require contracting with removal services, but be certain that no heavy equipment is operated off roadways -- it will bog down and cause extensive additional damage.

Involve engineers if necessary. If the flooding resulted in extensive geological damage, such as a sink hole, you will need to involve engineers with specialized skills to make the necessary repairs. Failure to do so will likely cause the continued loss of your cemetery and pose a threat to the public.

Always save all fragments -- throw away nothing! Just because a stone is shattered doesn't mean that it can't be repaired. But the repair will be much more costly if parts are thrown away -- or run over by heavy equipment. Everything should be carefully gathered up and -- as far as possible -- identified as to source. All these materials must be carefully safeguarded until conservation treatments can begin on the site.

Repair the damage. Involve a trained stone conservator to conduct the needed treatment of stones -- repairs and resetting. This individual can also guide you in other repairs -- such as masonry repairs to walls or box tombs. A trained conservator can also oversee the resetting of large monuments by a commercial firm, making certain that the work is conducted in a manner that safeguards the stone. 

Don't forget the landscape. Floods will likely cause extensive damage to the landscape -- covering and killing grass, downing trees, and destroying shrubbery. If the landscape is not also repaired, much of the historical integrity of your cemetery will be lost.

Where to Go for Help

If the damage is caused by a Presidentially declared disaster, then FEMA funds may be available to help public (city, county or state) and non-profit cemeteries clean-up, remove debris, and make repairs. There are several FEMA documents that you should be familiar with. One involves an overview of FEMA assistance programsFEMA assistance specific to non-profits (such as cemeteries), and FEMA coverage for collections and individual objects.

This form, developed by the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT) may help in conducting a quick assessment of damage.

Your local State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) may be able to provide additional assistance or grants. Unfortunately, relatively few SHPOs have personnel with specific knowledge of cemetery preservation. An alternate list of SHPOs is available here.

Chicora Foundation will also be happy to provide treatment proposals for stone and ironwork that may have been damaged at the cemetery. Contact us at 803-787-6910 or by email.

 

 


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