The Orsec plan (plan Orsec) is the French generic emergency plan is case of disaster, when the local means are not sufficient (catastrophe à moyens dépassés, CMD). "Orsec" stands for "organisation des secours", i.e. "rescue organization". CMD is a three-letter abbreviation that could mean: Center for Media and Democracy Chairman (alternatively chairperson) & Managing Director of a company (the managing director who is also the chairman). ...

The Orsec plan is for widespread or long lasting disasters such as floods, storm, earthquakes or major industrial disaster (e.g. the explosion of the AZF factory in Toulouse); this does not necessarily mean a lot of casualties, there can be a Orsec plan even when there is no wounded. The disasters with limited effects (small zone and short lasting) but with numerous casualties are handled by a red plan. Categories: Stub ... Global earthquake epicenters, 1963–1998 An earthquake is a trembling or a shaking movement of the Earths surface. ... AZF was the name of a chemical factory near Toulouse, France, which exploded on September 21, 2001. ... The Capitole, the 18th century city hall of Toulouse and best known landmark in the city; in the foreground is the Place du Capitole, a hub of urban life at the very center of the city Toulouse (pronounced in standard French, in local Toulouse accent) ( Occitan: Tolosa, pronounced ) is a... The french red plan (plan rouge) is, in France, an emergency plan in case of an important number of causalties in a limited area; its aim is to organize the means of rescue to face this concentration of casualties. ...

There is one Orsec plan per département, started by the préfet, and one national Orsec plan started by the prime minister. The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties and are now grouped into 22 metropolitan and four overseas régions. ... In France and many other French-speaking countries, a préfet (English: prefect) is the States representative in a département or région (in the later case, he is called a préfet de région). ...

Description

The Orsec plan is not a list of to do's, but the descripion of a general organization:

• missions: who is in charge of what, of which danger.
• listing of the means: personnel, equipment, transmissions...
• how the means are mobilized: who must be called...

The structure is the following:

• one management staff (headquarter);
• if the disaster is localized: a double command (as for the red plan), one close to the disaster (operational command) and one distant (logistics, reinforcement);
• five operationnal services:
  • police and inquiries: maintenance of law and order, road traffic, requisition, identification of the victims;
  • search-and-rescue: firefighters, samu, volunteer first responders;
  • medical care and social aid: samu, hospitals;
  • transportation and work: civil engineering, buses...
  • contact and Signals (transmission);
• one service in charge of public relations (press).

The launching of the Orsec plan is also an administrative act that allows specific pay back. Firefighter with an axe A firefighter, sometimes still called a fireman though women have increasingly joined firefighting units, is a person who is trained and equipped to put out fires, rescue people and in some areas provide emergency medical services. ... SAMU (Service dAide Médicale dUrgence, Emergency Medical Assistance Service) is the French hospital based emergency medical service. ... A hospital today is an institution for professional health care provided by physicians and nurses. ...