STATES OF EMERGENCY - Patrick Lagadec

48 Technological crises and the actors involvedOn the front, two immediate initiativesThen I went out there, my heart in my throat, but calm, thinking tomyself, "My friend, how are you going to handle that? You're really in forit. You've got to be the buffer, the safety valve and all, how are you going todo it?"P.L.: What were actually the most difficult moments?M. BECAM: My arrival there, for one.P.L.: And what did you do?M. BECAM: I did two things as soon as I got there. First, held a meetingwith all the mayors from the sector at the Ploudalmézeau town hall Don'tforget that at the time, the damages were still limited; the problem hadn't yetbegun crossing county lines as it did later. Above all, nothing was certain: theslick was moving around with the winds, and the winds were turning. Sothere were ten or twelve grouchy mayors. I told them, "Look, what's thepoint of crying? We're in deep s—. The best thing is to roll up our sleevesand work together. I'll have the means, so I can help you. You can count onme, including for the reimbursement of damages. I'll help you to the bitterend. And you've got to make things easy for me, because if you go soft onme, we may as well give up, go home and close the shutters like when there'sa hurricane. But this isn't a hurricane, and it's not the time to hole up. We'vegot to get out there."I should specify one thing: I was born and raised in Finistère, and I spentthe first half of my life in the area of the accident. What's more, I spent sevenyears working as an administrative director of the farm unions in Finistèrefrom 1959 to 1967. I sensed right away that that was a tremendous piece ofluck. People knew me as well as they knew the postman. I realizedimmediately that if this accident had taken place in Corsica, I would havebeen pushed out without being able to solve the problem. But here, I was oneof them, on my home territory. That was immensely helpful, even more sobecause with the delegation from the Prime Minister, I could say, "I can getwhat it takes." The meeting was held as soon as I arrived, at about four in theafternoon.An hour later, I moved again, calling a press conference. I said to thejournalists, "Listen. It's simple. Here's my offer: every day at five in theafternoon, a press update. And I'll leave a place free every day in theemergency management helicopter for a reporter. I've got nothing to hide.We're in an awful mess. It's up to me to deal with it. I'll tell you what I know-1 won't hide anything from you."The attitude of the press was transformed immediately. The very next day,I took them in the helicopter along the coast. And I said, "You ask thequestions, I'll answer them." We did the interview live from the helicopter.You can imagine how much that interests the radio stations! After a fewminutes, the journalist said, "Listen, it would be easier if you did the