STATES OF EMERGENCY - Patrick Lagadec

M. Becam: The "Amoco Cadiz" 49question-and-answer yourself. Keep the mike, it's very noisy in thehelicopter." So I did the commentary myself - there was no way they couldcut me down. I was in total control, live on the radio. The live broadcastfrom the helicopter, the exclusive report, the exclusive interview all wentover marvelously well.There you have it, my first two actions.The power of instinct: fighting, encountering, explainingIt was like a war, this crisis: a 250-kilometer front, 10,000 troops, 1000machines, a 13-week campaign. Being more intuitive than cerebral, I reactedby instinct: that was the driving force in my response. And in a crisis, instincthelps. I was in the field as much as possible. If I had to leave, say to go to acouncil of ministers, it was during the week. On weekends, I never left thecoast. I couldn't ask the soldiers, volunteers, and firemen to stay on duty,even on Easter Sunday, and then go be with my own family. On EasterSunday, on the Easter Monday holiday, I went from site to site, like - like ageneral visiting the front. I was on the front.During that Easter weekend I had another memorable exchange. I'd landedwith the helicopter on Locquirec Beach for a meeting with the mayors in thesector. They came toward me as I was getting out of the helicopter on thebeach, all dressed as I was, in boots and Breton reefers. One of them steppedup to me, saying,- "Marc, don't you recognize me?"- " Sure ", I said, "I recognize your face, but I can't place it."- "Marc, you remember the unions, ten years ago..."-"Oh, sure!"Then he said, "Marc, are you still on our side? Can we still call you'Marc'?"That was his sentence: " Marc - can we still call you Marc? "And I said, "Certainly. I haven't forgotten my years with the unions, andbesides, war is war. You'll see. I'm fighting the same battle as you are."Because I was from Finistère, because I'd been a union worker, because Ihad the place in my guts, things were easier. Otherwise they would have said,"Sir, you were sent by the government, therefore you are on the other side ofthe fence." Raymond Barre had the right idea. That meeting in Locquirec?We held it in a café. We had to talk with the mayors about creating giantditches for temporarily containing the oil that had been pumped. We wereoverwhelmed by the quantities being recovered. We had mobilized severaldegassing stations: they were all full. We had entire trainloads stuck in theCôtes-du-Nord area because there was nowhere to send them. I had to findstorage, take all the precautions, and explain what we were going to do."There's no other solution, otherwise we're going to be completelyoverwhelmed."