Wet documents? Get blow dryer

MANILA, Philippines – Thinking of getting some documents from the civil registry of the Manila City Hall? Keep your fingers crossed and a blow dryer handy.

According to Manila civil registrar Ma. Josefa Encarnacion-Ocampo, the city hall’s first floor was submerged in leg-deep floodwater caused by Tropical Storm “Ondoy,” leaving thousands of records water-damaged.

They included birth, death and marriage certificates filed prior to the 1980s, Ocampo said, adding that majority were documents registered in the 1940s and 1950s as these were stored in the lowest rung of the wooden filing cabinets.

“This prompted the registrar’s office to try various ways to salvage the documents, including using hair dryers and flat irons,” she said.

“We even asked help from the local bakeries. We tried to use their ovens for the wet documents but we were only able to dry the first and last few pages. The pages in between became more moist compared to when we started,” she added.

Here comes the sun

Ocampo said they had no choice but to spread the documents in batches around the grounds of city hall.

“Fortunately, the sun came out yesterday and today. We pray that the sun will shine for at least one week so we can dry everything,” she added.

Ocampo said she has already asked the city engineering office to build a mezzanine floor within their office so they could store vital documents above flood level.

Another proposal is to store the records in data storage devices (CDs, USB flash drives) which can be placed in secure places.

School records, books

School accountant Mary Ann Acebuche of St. Nicholas School in Concepcion, Marikina, said the school’s financial records, library books and other documents were either damaged or completely destroyed by flooding brought by Ondoy.

“It really makes you cry. I hope no one claims that they’ve paid up their children’s tuition when they actually haven’t,” she said.

Acebuche added that the school’s financial documents, property titles, and students’ records from 1977 were damaged by the muddy flood waters. “This mud’s different. It’s red and must have come from the mountains.”

She said the library, located on the second floor, was also flooded during the height of the storm.

“Our book stalls were tall but they must have floated during the flood and overturned. Encyclopedias, textbooks, all our titles … they’re all damaged,” Acebuche said.

She said they tried to wash the mud from the books while carefully separating the pages.

Jerlyn Santander was at work when floodwaters brought by Ondoy raged into their subdivision in San Mateo, Rizal. Submerged was the house she shared with her husband and little boy.

Baby pictures

Fortunately, her entire family was safe. But what broke Santander’s heart was what she found in the mud, along with the appliances and the dirty clothes.

“I found the albums of wet, soiled and faded baby photos of my 7-year-old son, and my wedding photos as well. The house and other things I can work for again, but how can I bring back my priceless treasures? They are all gone with Ondoy,” she said.

Santander and thousands of others left with wet documents, books and photographs should not fret. All is not lost as there are ways to salvage these items.

Useful tips from US

In the early 1990s, the staff of the US National Archives and Records Administration came up with tips to guide people in the emergency salvage of damaged documents, photographs, books and other personal papers.

Guidelines were also offered by the US Heritage Emergency National Task Force (a coalition of 36 national organizations and federal agencies) and the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), a US-based resource for preservation education. Here are some of the tips:

Documents and photographs should be dried within 48 hours to avoid an outbreak of mold.

If wet materials cannot be dried immediately, put them inside a plastic bag and freeze them. Freezing does not kill mold, but it does put the mold in a dormant state. The frozen items can be defrosted and dried later.

Paper is fragile when wet, so documents should be handled carefully. If the items still have mud and dirt clinging to them, agitate these in a bath of clear water to clean them.

Dry with fans

Circulating air will dry most items. Hair dryers, irons, ovens and exposure to sunlight can also help but they can cause irreversible damage. Increase airflow with fans and open windows.

Spread the documents and photographs on clean and absorbent material, such as blotter paper, unprinted newsprint paper (newspapers may rub ink onto the documents and damage them further), paper towels, rags, mattress pads and similar materials.

Photographs and negatives can also be hung with plastic clothespins.

For books, especially glossies, place interleaving material between every page to prevent sticking. Wax paper can be used as interleaving material. Fan the volumes open and stand them on edge with the interleaving paper extending beyond the edges of the book.

Next time, store in plastic

When the books are dry but still cool to the touch, close them and lay them flat on a table held in place with a light weight. Do not stack drying books on top of each other. Do not return books to the shelves until completely dry to prevent mold from developing.

For framed items, remove the backing material from the frame. If the item is not stuck to the glass, remove carefully and air dry. If the item appears to be stuck, just dry intact with the glass side down.

The best way to deal with water damage is to be prepared for it. Store materials at least four inches above the floor. Do not store them in areas where the threat of flooding is great. Better yet, keep documents and photographs – especially important materials such as land titles, passports, and birth certificates – in waterproof containers like resealable plastic bags. –Tina Santos, Philip Tubeza, Eliza Victoria, Philippine Daily Inquirer

(Sources: www.archives.gov, www.heritagepreservation.org, www.nedcc.org)