French Disaster Plans: Dealing With the Paris Terror Attacks (Red, Yellow, and White Plans)
March 27th, 2017In the event of a disaster in France, two complementary plans are activated: the Red Plan and the White Plan.
The Red Plan concerns what is happening in the field. It is based on the principle of extracting and grouping the injured. The injured are grouped in the field hospital, the triage and care center where the treatment that is strictly necessary is given, to ensure survival, calm the pain, and be able to transport the victims without making their condition worse. The field hospital is placed under the authority of the medical response coordinating physician.
The Alpha Red Plan, such as that activated on the night of November 13, is designed to deal with multisite events.
The Yellow Plan is a variant of the Red Plan adapted to nuclear, radiological, biological, and chemical risks. At the same time, the hospitals must be prepared to deal with an influx of victims: this is the responsibility of the White Plan.
On November 13, the emergency services counted 479 victims: operations on chronic cases therefore had to be put on hold in order to deal with the urgent cases.
The White Plan includes setting up a unit tasked with communication with the media, informing families, programming the release of beds, calling in reinforcements, etc. In line with the Social Security Modernization Act of 2004, the White Plan was extended to cover all establishments around the hospital, including clinics