The ICOMOS, a global monument conservation body, has launched an initiative to assess the damage to the rich cultural and built heritage in flood-devastated Kerala and set up an emergency response platform, an official said today.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) is a prestigious non-government organization dedicated to promoting the application of theory, methodology and scientific techniques for conservation of architectural and archaeological heritage across the world.
The initiative also aims at setting up a platform for emergency response to the cultural heritage damaged by the floods in Kerala.
Kerala is facing its worst floods in nearly a century that has left 223 dead in a fortnight and forced over 10 lakh people out of their homes. The Centre has declared this calamity of ‘severe nature’.
The ICOMOS-India chief said it has also approached the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) to partner in the post-disaster work, Jigyasu said.
Rome-based ICCROM is an inter-governmental organization dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide through training, information, research, cooperation and advocacy programmes.
Kerala is endowed with natural beauty and is home to a number of iconic forts, palaces, and other heritage buildings, which attract a huge number of tourists every year.
ICOMOS is also an advisory body to the UNESCO for cultural heritage, in particular for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention.