The Icelandic Museum of Technology in Seyðisfjörður is largely damaged after a landslide hit a large part of the museum's building on Saturday, December 19. This happened following an unprecedented period of torrential rain in the area for almost a week. The museum, which received recognition in 2014, specializes in the collection and preservation of technological artifacts, and many of its collections are unique.
The Museum Council agreed to spend one million krónur in emergency aid due to the situation at the museum, a kind of first aid, and this aid is based on the Museum Council's supervisory role and the funds that are tied up there. A large part of the Museum Council's supervisory role is monitoring the museum's building, the museum's facilities, and the preservation of artifacts, and the Council expects that the money would be used for initial response in the coming weeks and that the money would be used to bring experts to the site, pay for accommodation and subsistence, the cost of their work, and the cost of equipment and tools if necessary.
Work on cleaning and rescuing the museum collection began in mid-January and is a collaborative project between the locals of Seyðisfjörður, the Technical Museum, the National Archives, the Museum Council, and is under the supervision of the National Museum of Iceland. Many museums have kindly lent their experts to participate in the cleaning and rescuing work.
The following resolution can be found in the minutes of the meeting. 200th Museum Council Meeting:
For approval between museum council meetings – December 21, 2020
On December 21, 2020, the Museum Council unanimously approved spending up to one million ISK in emergency aid for the Icelandic Museum of Technology, which was severely damaged in a mudslide on Saturday, December 19, 2020, and most of the museum's collection was buried under mud. This assistance is based on the Museum Council's supervisory role and the funds tied up in it. A large part of the Museum Council's supervisory role is monitoring the museum's building, the facilities of the museum's collection, and the preservation of artifacts, and the council expects that the money would be used for initial responses in the coming weeks and that the money would be used to bring experts to the site, pay for accommodation and subsistence, the cost of their work, and the cost of equipment and tools if necessary. The assistance would be planned and implemented with the Museums Council's oversight committee and in collaboration with the Blue Shield and even other parties such as the Civil Protection Agency, the National Museum and the Icelandic Heritage Agency, if necessary.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports, the Ministry of Transport and Local Government, the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Justice have set up an information page on the island.is website in response to the disaster. It contains information about projects by the government and various institutions that are already underway and are planned in response to the disaster: