Rapid fuzzy logic flood risk assessment for the archivial heritage

A large economic, historical and artistic heritage is contained in the public archives, while documents with legal relevance are usually retained in the Companies' archives. The documents in archives can be exposed to various risks eg. fire, pests and other; one of the most significant risks is flooding. Flooding can origin from natural events, as meteorological water, or anthropic causes e.g. from the failure of the fire-fighting system. The flooding of the archives can cause the destruction of documents and the melting of the inks or favour the growth of mold, with consequences both on the archival heritage and on the safety of workers. For these reasons, it is important to extend the risk assessment of archives - usually limited to more traditional risks - to the risk of flooding. This paper introduces a methodology for assessing the risk of archive flooding. The proposed methodology takes into account the possible damage caused by flooding (e.g. the economic value or the rarity of the documents), the probability of occurrence and the recovery time in order to limit the damage The methodology also considers the new recovery systems now available, as the freeze-drying and the use of essential oils.