What Is an Emergency?
An emergency is any dangerous situation that could hurt people, cause death, or severly damage homes and property.
In Ontario, the Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act defines an emergency as:
"A situation or 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."
Emergencies are divided into 3 main categories:
Although an emergency / significant event might be caused by a natural event (e.g., a tornado), it's likely to produce a secondary effect (e.g., a power outage) that's normally categorized as a technological event.
Types of Emergencies
- Chemical spill / explosion
- Civil unrest / terrorism
- Communicable disease / epidemic
- Hail storms
- Power outage
- Severe winter weather
- Transportation incident