The Burke Museum is applying for federal funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency Hazard Mitigation Grant Program "December 2006 Severe Storm" (FEMA-1682-DR-WA), which is administered by the State of Washington Emergency Management Division. Local funds will be used as a match if the project is approved. The 2007 UW Hazard Mitigation Plan identifies the need to seismically retrofit the Museum’s collection storage units. We invite you to share ideas and comments via a web survey regarding potential projects and alternatives to address seismic hazards in the Ethnology and Geology divisions. We propose a project to reduce the potential hazards to staff and visitors in the museum during an earthquake event and to reduce the potential of damage to the ethnographic and geological collections. The goal of the project is two-fold: to ensure the safety of people in the museum and to protect these collections. The project would achieve these goals through replacement of the deficient storage structures and removal of partial height CMU walls. The new collection storage structures in the Ethnology and Geology collections joint workspace storage areas would be capable of withstanding a Seismic Zone 4 code level earthquake and have additional capacity to provide the best protection and security for the valuable ethnographic and geological collections from damage due to seismic activity. This project would entail packing and inventorying the collections, moving the packed collections to temporary storage, removal of partial height CMU partition walls, installation of compactor storage units and industrial pallet racks, and moving the collections into the new storage structures. Installation of the storage structures would meet code for Seismic Zone 4 as well as the new IBC building code; this rating would be verified by a certified engineer. During this period, the Ethnology and Geology collections would be closed to public access.

We welcome your comments; comments must be received by Friday, July 6, 2007. Please send written comments to UWEM Box 351275 Seattle, WA 98195, or to disaster@u.washington.edu, or call (206) 897-8000.