STATES OF EMERGENCY - Patrick Lagadec

150 Technological crises and the actors involved2. The journalist: Philippe Dessaint, editorial director on the FR 3Champagne-Ardenne TV station at the time of the Rheims case, and on FR 3Ile-de-France during the Villeurbanne case. He bases his reflections on havingseen the former case in his capacity as a journalist, and the latter as aconsultant.3. The expert: Lucien Abenhaim, epidemiologist and expert on publichealth risks. In particular, he analyses the handling of the question of videoterminal screens and their impact on pregnant women (seen in Canada in1979) and of the threat from askarel and PCBs in Villeurbanne.4. The union leaders: Pierre Bobe and Jacques Fournier of the ChemicalFederation of the French CFDT union. They base their analysis on theproblems that arose around the stocks of methylisocyanate at La Littorale, aplant in southern France, shortly after this product caused a massacre inBhopal.5. The communications consultant: Robert L. Dilenschneider, presidentand chief executive officer of Hill & Knowlton, one of the world's leadingpublic relations consulting groups.6. The top executive: François Ailleret, Deputy General Director ofElectricité de France, who spent years as distribution manager for EDF-GDF. In this case, he tackles not so much the nuclear issue as the commonlyunderestimated problem of business culture in large organizations and itseffects on crisis management.7. A leading international figure in catastrophe studies: Haroun Tazieff,former French Secretary of State in charge of Major Hazards.8. A high-ranking politician: Laurent Fabius, former Prime Minister ofFrance, who was faced during his term of office with such issues as thesinking of the Mont Louis (1985).9. A radical militant: Gustavo Esteva, formerly a high-ranking Mexicangovernment official, now an organizer of a citizens'network. He looks at howa such a network was able to respond to the earthquake that shook Mexico onSeptember 19, 1985. Though this case originated in a natural disaster, it isincluded here because it, too raises interesting questions for our discussion.10. A major disaster specialist: Enrico Quarantelli, Director of DisasterResearch Center at the University of Delaware (U.S.A.), the world's firstresearch entity devoted to this field, founded more than thirty years ago.With these observers, we will delve further into the chaotic world of thepost-accident crisis.