The Orsec plan is the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 generic emergency plan in case of disaster, when the local means are not sufficient (, CMD). "Orsec" stands for , i.e. "rescue organization".

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

AZF

AZF was the name of a chemical factory near Toulouse, France, which exploded on 21 September 2001...

 factory in Toulouse

Toulouse

Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...

); this does not necessarily mean a lot of casualties

Casualty (person)

A casualty is a person who is the victim of an accident, injury, or trauma. The word casualties is most often used by the news media to describe deaths and injuries resulting from wars or disasters...

, as there can be an 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

French red plan

The French red plan is a French emergency plan used if an emergency has a significant number of casualties in a limited area. Its aim is to organize the rescue resources to cope with the concentrated casualties....

.

There is one Orsec plan per département, started by the préfet

Préfet

A prefect in France is the State's representative in a department or region. Sub-prefects are responsible for the subdivisions of departments, arrondissements...

, and one national Orsec plan started by the prime minister.

Since 2007, the plan rouge is a specific case of the Orsec plan.

Description

The Orsec plan is not a list of to do's, but the description 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 operational services:
  • police and inquiries: maintenance of law and order, road traffic, requisition, identification of the victims;
  • search-and-rescue: firefighter
    Firefighter
    Firefighters are rescuers extensively trained primarily to put out hazardous fires that threaten civilian populations and property, to rescue people from car incidents, collapsed and burning buildings and other such situations...
    
    s, SAMU
    Samu
    Samu may refer to:* Samu, nickname for a Homo erectus man found in Vértesszőlős, Hungary* SAMU - Service d'Aide Médicale d'Urgence, an emergency medical service in France.* Servicio de Atencion Medica Urgente, also an emergency medical service...
    
    , 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.

See also

• in case of emergency
• Other countries' disaster response plans:
  • United Kingdom
    United Kingdom
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
    
     : Gold Silver Bronze command structure
    Gold Silver Bronze command structure
    A gold–silver–bronze command structure is used by emergency services of the United Kingdom to establish a hierarchical framework for the command and control of major incidents and disasters...
    
    
  • United States
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
    
     : National Response Plan
    National Response Plan
    The National Response Plan was a United States national plan to respond to emergencies such as natural disasters or terrorist attacks. It came into effect in December 2004 , and was superseded by the National Response Framework on March 22, 2008....
    
    , National Incident Management System
    National Incident Management System
    The National Incident Management System is emergency management doctrine used nationwide to coordinate emergency preparedness and incident management and response among the public and private sectors.NIMS is a comprehensive, national approach to incident management that is applicable at all...
    
    , Federal Emergency Management Agency
    Federal Emergency Management Agency
    The Federal Emergency Management Agency is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security, initially created by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 1 of 1978 and implemented by two Executive Orders...