Emergency

Definitions

European Definitions

Council of Europe

Emergency is an unexpected event, which places life and / or property in danger and requires an immediate response through the use of routine community resources and procedures.

2007/779/EC

Major emergency means any situation which has or may have an adverse impact on people, the environment or property and which may result in a call for assistance under the Mechanism

Note: Mechanism refers to a Community Mechanism to facilitate reinforced cooperation between the Community and the Member States in Civil Protection assistance intervention in the event of major emergencies, or the imminent threat thereof, is hereby established.

Other International Definitions

United Nations

A sudden and usually unforeseen event that calls for immediate measures to minimize its adverse consequences.

UNDHA

Emergency: a sudden and usually unforeseen event that calls for immediate measures to minimize its adverse consequences.

Emergencia: evento repentino e inprevisto, que hace tomar medidas inmediatas para minimizar sus consecuencias.

Urgence (syn. crise): Événement brusque et généralement imprévu qui requiert des mesures immédiates pour minimizer ses conséquences néfastes.

National Definitions

Argentina

Emergencia: suceso súbito generado por la ocurrencia real o inminente de un evento adverso, que require de una movilización inmediata de recursos, sin exceder la capacidad de respuesta.

Emergencia: Situación provocada por un evento adverso, la cual es atendida por los recursos locales disponibles.

Australia

An emergency is an event, actual or imminent, which endangers or threatens to endanger life, property or the environment, and which requires a significant and coordinated response.

An emergency is the threatened or actual impact of a hazard, natural or otherwise, which endangers the environment, property or the safety or health of persons or animals, and requires a coordinated response.

Barbados

Emergency is a serious situation or occurrence that happens unexpectedly and demands immediate action.

Brazil

Emergéncia:
1. Situação crítica; acontecimento perigoso ou fortuito; incidente.
2. Caso de urgência.

1. Critical situation; Dangerous or fortuitous event; incident.
2. Case of urgency.

Government Canada

Emergency is a present or imminent event that requires prompt coordination of actions concerning persons or property to protect the health, safety or welfare of people, or to limit damage to property or the environment.

Situation présente ou imminente requérant des actions rapides et coordonnées touchant des personnes ou des biens pour protéger la santé, la sécurité et le bien-être des personnes ou limiter les dommages aux biens ou à l’environnement.

AESO

Emergency (power grid) means, as declared by the ISO, either: (i) any abnormal system condition which requires immediate manual or automatic action to prevent abnormal system frequency deviation, abnormal voltage levels, equipment damage, or tripping of system elements which might result in cascading effects; or (ii) a state in which the interconnected electric system lacks sufficient ancillary services.

El Salvador

Emergencia: Estado caracterizado por la alteración o interrupción intensa y grave de las condiciones normales de funcionamiento u operación de una comunidad, causada por un evento o por la inminencia del mismo, que requiere de una reacción inmediata y que exige la atención o preocupación de las instituciones del Estado, los medios de comunicación y de la comunidad en general.

Finland

Poikkeusolot: valmiuslaissa tarkoitettu yhteiskunnan tila, jossa on niin paljon tai niin vakavia häiriöitä tai uhkia, että on tarpeen mahdollistaa viranomaisten tavanomaisesta poikkeava toimivaltuuksien käyttö.

Emergency is a condition of the society, meant by the Preparedness Act, which has so many or so serious incidents or threats that it is necessary to make possible the exceptional use of powers of authorities. -unofficial translation-

Germany

Ein Notfall ist eine die Allgemeinheit betreffende Situation, die neben Selbsthilfemaßnahmen des Einzelnen staatlich organisierte Hilfeleistung erforderlich macht.

descriptive text only

An emergency is a event in which the processes or resources of an organisation do not function as intended. The availability of the corresponding processes or resources cannot be restored in the required time frame. Business operations are seriously affected. It may be impossible to uphold any existing SLAs (Service Level Agreements). The resulting damages are high to very high and affect the annual results of a company or the ability of a government agency to fulfil its tasks so significantly that such damage is unacceptable. Emergencies cannot be handled during general daily business operations and require a special business continuity response organisation instead.

Italy

Emergenza: Situazione critica non prevedibile, di grave pericolo e di grave rischio pubblico affrontata dalle autorità con misure straordinarie.

Mexico

Emergencia: Situación derivada de actividades humanas o fenómenos naturales que al afectar severamente a sus elementos, pone en peligro a uno o varios ecosistemas o la pérdida de vidas humanas.

Emergencia: Estado directamente relacionado con la ocurrencia de un fenómeno físico peligroso o por la inminencia del mismo, que requiere de una reacción inmediata y exige la atención de las instituciones del Estado, los medios de comunicación y de la comunidad en general. Cuando es inminente el evento, pueden presentarse confusión, desorden, incertidumbre y desorientación entre la población.

La fase inmediata después del impacto es caracterizada por la alteración o interrupción intensa y grave de las condiciones normales de funcionamiento u operación de una comunidad, zona o región y las condiciones mínimas necesarias para la supervivencia y funcionamiento de la unidad social afectada. Constituye una fase o componente de una condición de desastre pero no es, per se, una noción sustitutiva de desastre. Puede haber condiciones de emergencia sin un desastre.

Netherlands

Een ramp is een zwaar ongeval of een andere gebeurtenis waarbij het leven en de gezondheid van veel personen, het milieu of grote materiële belangen in ernstige mate zijn geschaad of worden bedreigd en waarbij een gecoördineerde inzet van diensten of organisaties van verschillende disciplines is vereist om de dreiging weg te nemen of de schadelijke gevolgen te beperken.

An emergency is a major accident or another event that endanged, endangers or potentially may endanger the lives and health of many people, the environment and or major material interests and which requires coordinated multi-disciplinary activities of agencies and organisations to remove the threat or to reduce the impact.

New Zealand/AOTEAROA

An emergency is a situation that poses an immediate risk to life, health, property, or the environment that requires a coordinated response.

Peru

Emergencia.- Estado de daños sobre la vida, el patrimonio y el medio ambiente ocasionados por la ocurrencia de un fenómeno natural o inducido por la acción humana que altera el normal desenvolvimiento de las actividades de la zona afectada.

Philippines

Emergency: A sudden condition or state of affairs calling for immediate action.

From the Latin word emergentia meaning a dipping or plunging.

Singapore

A sudden, unexpected event requiring immediate action due to its impact on health and safety, the environment, or compliance with regulation, or which can cause the organization to be unable to provide critical business functions for some predetermined minimum period of time.

An emergency may precede or happen at the same time as a disaster.

Slovakia

Mimoriadna situácia: Časovo a priestorovo determinované ohrozenie života, zdravia, majetku a životného prostredia, hospodárstva štátu, ako aj orgánov verejnej správy vyvolané pôsobením negatívnych následkov mimoriadnych udalostí, ktoré si vyžaduje použitie postupov, nástrojov, zdrojov a síl a prostriedkov krízového riadenia.

Núdza: Situácia na území celého štátu alebo niektorého regiónu, pri ktorej sú ohrozené životy alebo zdravie ľudí, majetok, životné prostredie, vnútorná bezpečnosť a poriadok a ďalšie hodnoty spoločnosti v dôsledku negatívneho pôsobenia následkov mimoriadnych udalostí. Prejavuje sa ako jav, ktorý si vyžaduje poskytovanie cudzej pomoci a zabezpečenie základných životných potrieb štátom.

Tieseň: Prejav vonkajších a vnútorných podmienok objektívneho charakteru, ktoré prežíva jednotlivec a ktoré bezprostredne ohrozujú život alebo zdravie ľudí, majetok alebo životné prostredie v dôsledku negatívneho pôsobenia následkov mimoriadnych udalostí. Prejavuje sa ako stav, ktorý si vyžaduje poskytovanie cudzej pomoci a zabezpečenie základných životných potrieb inými osobami alebo štátom.

South Africa

An emergency can be seen as a local event within a community that affects a limited number of people or property. An emergency could require extreme measures to correct and cope with, but can usually be managed by the community itself, using its own resources.

Switzerland

Situation, die aus einer Entwicklung oder einem Ereignis entsteht und mit den ordentlichen Abläufen nicht bewältigt werden kann, weil sie die personellen und materiellen Mittel der betroffenen Gemeinschaft überfordert.

Situation qui résulte d’une évolution ou d’un événement et que les procédures ordinaires ne permettent pas de gérer efficacement, les moyens en personnel et en matériel de la collectivité touchée s’avérant insuffisants.

Situazione generata da un’evoluzione o da un evento cui non è possibile far fronte con le procedure ordinarie, poiché le risorse di personale e di materiale della comunità colpita non sono sufficienti.

United Kingdom

An emergency is an event or situation that threatens serious damage to human welfare in a place in the UK or to the environment of a place in the UK, or war or terrorism which threatens serious damage to the security of the UK.

To constitute an emergency this event or situation must require the implementation of special arrangements by one or more Category 1 responder.

Tanzania

Emergency: A situation generated by the real or imminent occurrence of an event requiring immediate attention by the affected community using its own resources.

United States

FEMA

An emergency is any occasion or instance for which, in the determination of the President, Federal assistance is needed to supplement State and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property, public health, and safety, and includes emergencies other than natural disasters.

NERC

Energy emergency: A condition when a Load-Serving Entity has exhausted all other options and can no longer provide its customers’ expected energy requirements.

NIMS

An emergency is any incident, whether natural or manmade, that requires responsive action to protect life or property.

Standard Definition

ISO/PAS 22399:2007

Sudden, urgent, usually unexpected occurrence or event requiring immediate action.

Other Definitions

Ontario (Canada)

Emergency is a situation or an impending situation that constitutes a danger of major proportions that could result in serious harm to persons or substantial damage to property and that is caused by the forces of nature, a disease or other health risk, an accident or an act whether intentional or otherwise.

Situation d’urgence: situation ou situation imminente dangereuse à un point tel qu’elle risquerait de causer un grave préjudice à des personnes ou d’importants dommages à des biens et qui est due à un fléau de la nature, à une maladie ou autre risque pour la santé, à un accident ou à un acte intentionnel ou autre.

See also

• Crisis
• Event
• Disaster
• Incident