STATES OF EMERGENCY - Patrick Lagadec

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202 Technological crises and the actors involvedsomething of a cliché). That should push us to think about crises that hitothers and to ask ourselves with humility what we would have done. We needto reach a better understanding of how our society and the expectations ofour fellow citizens are evolving, not only in crisis situations but in everydaylife as well. That's a long-term problem, since evolution is by definitionsomething gradual.But at the other end of the scale, I'm convinced that there are problemsinvolving know-how and operations that probably aren't very hard to solve,with ideas like creating a crisis unit, distributing roles, coordinating, and soon. These are all technical aspects, and we can move fast there. We candevelop training and emphasize the importance of these pre-occupationswhenever someone new comes on board ("You're responsible for this andthat, so think about how you're organized for a crisis"). We can also use thetrack of doing a post mortem on a crisis, even a small-scale crisis: even asummary evaluation can bring to light various problems with logistics,personnel, or making ourselves understood, as well as other factors that areeasy to improve.And then there are somewhat intermediate questions: in-depthorganization, controlling the time dimension, dealing with confusion betweendifferent authorities. Here again, we can probably make the most progress bythinking about it, trying to set guidelines, and doing drills now and then.So there are several avenues of approach. But as you know, overallchanges come slowly. In all likelihood, if a really deep, harsh crisis hittomorrow, it probably wouldn't be treated much differently from five yearsago.P.L.: Things are moving, but there are areas of reticence -F. AlLLERET: - that are probably due to an insufficient awareness ofpublic expectations. If you respect the public, of course it can always accuseyou of not doing your best, but there won't be a boomerang effect. When youleave expectations totally unsatisfied, you open the door to voices that haveabsolutely no legitimacy but that acquire legitimacy because they fill the gapleft by the people who should have had a presence.It' one thing if we appear to have made technical mistakes, but to havetaken full responsibility in trying to limit their consequences. It's somethingelse to say "hush-hush" and to avoid issues - that gives rise to a publicsentiment that not only mistakes were made, but they may not even have beenidentified (since nobody will talk about them). We emerge looking emptyhandedand out of control (since we don't seem to be fulfilling our role). Youhave to realize that in a crisis, public opinion will give no quarter. Nobodyhas anything to gain by being disdainful or simply absent. It's better to admitto the errors made, recognize your weaknesses, and try to explain thesituation clearly and without complacency, and to face up to the harshestcritics. Otherwise the risk is, the public may rapidly arrive at the conclusionthat your representatives have no sense of responsibility. In my opinion,that's the worst thing that can happen.
HAROUN TAZIEFFWho will have the courageto prevent catastrophes?BackgroundHaroun Tazieff - former French Secretary of State in charge of Major Risks Prevention,is a well-known volcanologist and a figure of international repute in the field of majorhazards.P.L.: For many long years you have made your presence felt in the fieldof major hazards. I would like to go back over your experiences with you,over your view of the difficult questions that contemporary societies arehaving to face with regard to the challenge of major risks and of managingcrises.H.TAZIEFF: For me, everything began on May 20, 1960 in Chile, where Idiscovered just what a high-intensity earthquake was: some 100,000 dead and,as always, many, many times more wounded, with enormous problems forthe survivors, the entire economic and civilian infrastructure laid to waste,and colossal difficulties for the government. The first question that came tomind was, how should the emergency aid be organized in a large-scalecatastrophe?Things got started in the Goûter refuge on Mont Blanc, where I was withGaston Rébuffat, when we heard on the radio that an earthquake in Chile hadtriggered a volcanic eruption. I jumped up: "Gaston, I've got to go there."Actually, whether eruptions can be triggered by tremors was a subject of hotscientific debate: could a seism set off an eruption, or not? So I left Gaston tocontinue his crossing of Mont Blanc as part of the filming of his beautifulmovie Entre Terre et Ciel and at the crack of dawn, I scooted down theGoûter peak, jumped on the train, caught my plane, and arrived in Chile.There I discovered the effects of the strongest tremor ever recorded, andthose effects were frightening. I first "investigated" about what had motivatedmy trip (in fact, the volcano was ripe to erupt and the earthquake had simplyhurried things along), and that led me to find out what a colossal-scalecatastrophe was. During my wanderings - including cavalcades of severaldays in the southern winter, airplane and helicopter flights over the area, and
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STATES OF EMERGENCYTechnological Fa
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viiiContents- Edgar Fasel..........
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IntroductionIn recent years, a whol
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Introduction 3And what goes for maj
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Introduction 5It is not hard to mea
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Introduction 7Look for example at t
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PART ONETechnical Breakdown,Crisis
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12 Technical breakdown, crisis and
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Organizations with their backs to t
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3. In the thick of thingsThe most r
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MARC BECAMThe oil spill from the
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M. Becam: The "Amoco Cadiz" 47Trava
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M. Becam: The "Amoco Cadiz" 49quest
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M. Becam: The "Amoco Cadiz" 51M. BE
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M. Becam: The "Amoco Cadiz" 53way:
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RICHARD THORNBURGHThree Mile Island
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R. Thornburgh: Three Mile Island 57
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D.K Burrows: Mississauga 67We chose
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D .K Burrows: Mississauga 69look af
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D.K Burrows: Mississauga 71D.K. BUR
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D.K Burrows: Mississauga 73P.L.: No
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76 Technological crises and the act
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EDGAR FASELSchweizerhalleand the po
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PHILIPPE VESSERONThe case of the Se
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100 Technological crises and the ac
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Technological crises and the actors
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Technological crises and the actors
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Page 152 and 153: 152 Technological crises and the ac
Page 172 and 173: LUCIEN ABENHAIMUncertainty, the exp
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Page 190 and 191: ROBERT L. DILENSCHNEIDEREthics and
Page 196 and 197: FRANÇOIS AILLERETAn attitude of op
Page 208 and 209: LAURENT FABIUSOur societies: ill-pr
Page 214 and 215: 214Technological crises and the act
Page 222 and 223: ENRICO QUARANTELLIThirty years of c
Page 232 and 233: PART THREELandmarks for ActionQuest
Page 234 and 235: 236 Landmarks for action. Questions
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276 Conclusionsituations of excepti
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ReferencesIntroduction1. P. Lagadec
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References 281Chapter 21. Newsweek,
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References 28314. Interview with Lu
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STATES OF EMERGENCY - Patrick Lagadec

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