What's an Emergency situation ?
An emergency is a situation which poses
an immediate risk
to health, life, property or environment.
Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent
a worsening of the situation, although in some situations,
mitigation may not be possible and agencies may
only
be able to offer palliative care for the aftermath.
Whilst some emergencies are
self evident (such as a
natural disaster which threatens many lives), many
smaller incidents require the
subjective opinion of
an observer (or affected party) in order to decide
whether it qualifies as an
emergency.
The precise definition of an emergency, the agencies
involved and the
procedures used, vary by jurisdiction,
and this is usually set by the government, whose
agencies
(emergency services) are responsible for
emergency planning and management.
All emergency
situations require the geolocation
of the fact in order to take immediate action.
How to handle an
emergency situation
Take deep breaths. Your brain can't function properly
without
oxygen. Take long, deep breaths, not short
ones. If you begin panting, you will increase the rush
of adrenaline.
Continue taking deep breaths until you
agree to yourself that you can take care of the situation.
If you
don't think you can handle it, even after one
minute of deep breathing, get help. If you don't think
you
can handle the situation, there's no point in trying,
because you'll probably do something wrong.
Call
your local emergency number if you aren't calm
enough to take care of the situation after one minute
of deep
breathing. Don't continue deep breaths to calm
down after one minute, because waiting too long could
affect
the situation dramatically. In these situations,
it's either you can do it, or you can't. Choose carefully.
Figure
out what you need to do, and do it. Make sure
you do it right while still being timely.
Run in your head each
choice you make, and determine
the effects of it. Be fast. Don't rush things to the point
you can't remain
calm, but don't take your time either.
Rushing can lead to pointless decisions that will only
waste more
time. Before going through with any choice,
make sure it's worth the while. And as soon as you start,
go
through with it.
Call your local emergency number. After you've gone
through your choice, call your local emergency
number
immediately. Your choice could help stall the situation,
but no matter how good you think it was,
call your
emergency number. After that, having an iPhone with
iSOS! will let you report your location by
e-mail, so the
emergency service or your selected contacts will check
your location in Google Maps.
If you're with other
people in the situation, while you're making your
decision, yell at someone to call
the emergency
number. Don't yell generally, yell at one specific
person, preferably the first one you see.
If you yell at one person, they'll do it.
If you yell at everyone, they will all assume
someone else will
do it.
Relax. Wait for the emergency specialists to come.
There's basically nothing you can do after you've
made your choice and have called the emergency
number. Don't go completely numb, but don't
freak out
either. Continue taking deep breaths,
and constantly remind yourself that you've done
all you can. Don't
feel you need to make another
decision to make things right, because the
specialists will know exactly what
to do once they
arrive.
