Press Advisory

For Immediate Release	Contact: Caryl Lucas
May 9, 2006	Phone: 609-292-4302

SECRETARY WELLS ANNOUNCES VITAL RECORDS DISASTER
PREPAREDNESS AND RECOVERY WORKSHOP SET FOR MAY 11 AND 12

Ewing, NJ – Secretary of State Nina Mitchell Wells has announced that New Jersey’s Division of Archives and Records Management and the National Archives and Records Administration, Northeast Region will co-present an intensive workshop on disaster preparedness and recovery of vital government records to officials from the counties of Burlington, Hunterdon, Mercer, Union and Warren on Thursday and Friday, May 11 and 12, at the State Records Center in Ewing.

Howard Lowell, Deputy Assistant Archivist of the United States and State Archivist Karl J. Niederer will convene the workshop, one of a series of four regional training programs involving all 21 New Jersey counties. Participating county officials include senior administrators, records managers, emergency management coordinators, and technology directors. The workshop includes risk assessment, vital records planning, disaster mitigation, and concludes with a hands-on exercise in salvaging water-damaged records.

The experience of the 2005 hurricane season and 9/11 has made readiness for natural or man-made disasters a priority for federal, state, and local governments throughout the United States. The National Response Plan now identifies vital records as a national asset needed to restore essential government services.

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