The Importance of FamilySearch Record Preservation

A destructive magnitude 7.2 quake hit Bohol, Philippines in mid October. There were 222 reported dead, 8 missing, and 976 people injured. There were 69,000 structures damaged or destroyed. Among these were centuries old Catholic Church buildings.

A coworker pointed me to an article written by felvirordinario, Filipino genealogist and blogger. He, first acknowledging the human tragedy, next turned his thoughts to the survival of the old Church records.

Before and after views of a Catholic Church. (Photo by @LailRara Twitter)

He wrote,

As an advocate of records preservation, one of my first concerns were the records found in these churches. What of them at the face of this great catastrophe? Were they destroyed along with the structures they were housed in?

Read his article “Forever Preserved: Genealogical Records after the Bohol Quake,” to learn if the records survived and the role FamilySearch plays in record preservation.