Anthony Trollope - Clive Ponting - Punishment Park TV - Bill Arkin - Duncan Campbell - Marie Staunton - Executive Order - Steven van Zandt - Billy Corgan - US House of Representatives Committee Report - Concordia Disaster: One Year On TV - Ambulance TV - World’s Worst Flights TV - Tonight: 999: A National Emergency? TV - Treasury Department letter - Atomic Homefront TV - Storyville: On the Morning You Wake TV - Dispatches TV -
A man’s mind will very generally refuse to make itself up until it be driven and compelled by emergency. Anthony Trollope, Ayala’s Angel
It seems as though a lot of the basic provisions are obviously similar and draw on experience from the Second World War. But in many cases they seem to go a lot further and envisage much more sweeping powers for the government, particularly in a time of real crisis and go far beyond the powers that were taken in the 1940s. Clive Ponting, former civil servant & whistleblower
Whole areas around military bases, airfields – and so one would almost be put under military control in which they would be able to clear areas in order to defend them. Clive Ponting
The President of the United States of America is still authorised without further approval by Congress to determine an event of insurrection within the United States and to declare the existence of an Internal Security Emergency. Punishment Park, opening scene, 1971
If the protest got to the point where there was actually insurrection or actual violence between the NATO military forces and the local population then clearly American military commanders have the authority to use deadly force in the protection of their military assets. Bill Arkin, former US Army Captain
The Home Office special official committees on home defence have recently been supervising the preparation of new war laws. Duncan Campbell, Secret Society: In Time of Crisis, BBC 1987
The laws are intended to control not just panic but dissent as well. ibid.
The plans also cover conscript labour: thousands of people with many different skills would be needed. ibid.
We’re very worried that the government haven’t disclosed plans for the next round of emergency legislation which they may introduce. Because it is now that parliament ought to be saying, Well is this really the best way of going about it? And it’s now that we ought to be debating it. Because during the Second World War a lot of miscarriages of justice happened to a lot of innocent people. Marie Staunton, National Council for Civil Liberties
Executive Order #10999 allows the government to take over all forms of transportation. Executive Order cited America: Freedom to Fascism, 2006
Executive Order#11921 Provides that the President can declare a state of emergency that is not defined, and Congress cannot review the action for six months. Executive Order cited America: Freedom to Fascism
What the world needs is an Emergency Boss. An Emergency Czar. An Emergency Commander. A true Master Of Disaster. One person completely responsible for the anticipation, immediate reconnaissance, and urgent execution of rescue and relief efforts around the world. Steven van Zandt
There is something mighty suspicious about declaring an emergency for something that has yet to show itself to be a grand pandemic. Billy Corgan, re Swine Flu, 2009
For years emergency management professionals have been warning that FEMA’s preparedness has eroded. Many believe this erosion is a result of the separation of the preparedness function from FEMA, the drain of long-term professional staff along with their institutional knowledge and expertise, and the inadequate readiness of FEMA’s national emergency response teams. The combination of these staffing, training, and organizational structures made FEMA’s inadequate performance in the face of a disaster the size of Katrina all but inevitable. US House of Representatives Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina February 2006
13th January 2012: the Costa Concordia cruise ship collides with a rock near an Italian island and begins sinking. It’s the largest passenger shipwreck in history. Costa Concordia Disaster: One Year On, National Geographic 2013
Costing an estimated $400 million it will be the most expensive and challenging salvage operation ever attempted. ibid.
At 9.45 p.m. the ship hits the rock. ibid.
Why it took so long to abandon ship ... there was confusion on board. ibid.
The ship starts to lean to its left side. ibid.
Twenty minutes after the impact no-one has called a general emergency ... the announcers repeat the same reassuring message. ibid.
When the most serious emergencies strike, the Ambulance has eight minutes to respond. With 999 calls doubling in London over the last ten years. In a control centre every single one needs a split-second decision. Ambulance I, BBC 2016
With critical calls staking up, they’re running out of ambulances. Still no let up in new calls coming in. ibid.
Only fifteen ambulances are currently available for the eight and a half million people of London. ibid.
New York 27th March 2012 early morning JetBlue flight 191 … ‘We grabbed him [pilot] and pulled him away from the door’ … ‘We are able to pin the pilot on the belly of the plane and restraining him was a difficult task’ … As passengers restrained the pilot, the co-pilot declared an emergency … ‘We started a very very rapid and steep descent’ … Ready to board were the emergency services. World’s Worst Flights s1e2: Bomb on Board, Channel 5 2018
Tonight, an NHS in critical condition. The ambulance service experiencing its own emergency. Queuing outside hospital because it’s trolley room only at A&E. Paramedics under pressure and a service making the toughest calls. Tonight: 999: A National Emergency? ITV 2022
The government claims the power to seize all financial instruments: currency, gold, silver, and everything else if they deem an emergency exists. Treasury Department letter 12th August 2005
Secrecy is the Word to Remember. Atomic Homefront, sign over entrance, Sky Documentaries 2022
North St Louis County, Missouri: Elevated levels of radioactivity. ibid.
In 1942 the US Government chose St Louis, Missouri, as a processing center of uranium for the first atomic bombs. Over the next 25 years, the radioactive waste from this processing was moved to sites throughout the northern suburbs of St Louis. The radioactive waste was then dumped into a landfill in Northern St Louis County. ibid. captions
It’s stinking. That’s how it is down here. ibid. resident
The Bridgeton side of the landfill contains an underground fire known as a Subsurface Smoldering Event or SSE. ibid. caption
The West Lake side of the landfill contains 47,000 tons of radioactive waste including Uranium 238, Thorium 230 and Radium 226. ibid.
In 1990 the West Lake landfill was designated as a Superfund site. ibid.
Proposed site of isolation barrier north quarry area chart. ibid.
‘We’re just mums and we’re scared.’ ibid.
Louis Gibbs founded the Lake Canal Homeowners Association to fight dioxine poisoning in the community. ibid. caption 1980
We had all of those cancers. Every single one. ibid. resident
They used to dump up there up to twelve o’clock [midnight] ibid.
In October 2015, four school districts near the West Lake landfill send letters to parents explaining their emergency action plan in case of a radioactive incident. ibid.
Hawaii Saturday January 13th 2018 8.07: Emergency Alert: Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek Immediate Shelter. This is not a drill. Storyville: On the Morning You Wake (To the End of the World), BBC 2022
There are still more than 14,000 nuclear weapons in the world. ibid.
Emergency Alerts … There is no threat or danger … ibid.
If you called 999 you’d expect a quick response, an ambulance to turn up and give you the best care possible fast. I think people would be shocked if they saw what was really happening. Since I started with the ambulance service things have got a lot worse. Dispatches: Undercover Ambulance: NHS in Chaos, Channel 4 2023
The resus beds are always busy because the hospitals are overwhelmed. ibid.