Editing Emergency (section)

{{short description|Situation requiring urgent intervention}}
{{Other uses}}
{{For|Wikipedia's guidelines for dealing with emergencies on Wikipedia itself|Wikipedia:Responding to threats of harm|selfref=yes}}
{{Wiktionary}}
[[File:Woman collapses in the East Village of New York.jpg|thumb|An [[emergency medical technician]] treats a woman who has collapsed in the street in New York. Dangers to life and health are serious enough that emergency response systems are considered vital.]]
[[File:BA38 Crash.jpg|thumb|right|Emergency slides are deployed after the crash landing of [[British Airways Flight 38]]]]

An '''emergency''' is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to [[health]], [[life]], [[property]], or [[Natural environment|environment]] and requires immediate action.<ref>{{cite web|title=UK Government Advice on Definition of an Emergency |url=http://www.ukresilience.info/upload/assets/www.ukresilience.info/15mayshortguide.pdf |access-date=2007-05-30 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070606230917/http://www.ukresilience.info/upload/assets/www.ukresilience.info/15mayshortguide.pdf |archive-date=2007-06-06 }}</ref>  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.

While some emergencies are self-evident (such as a [[natural disaster]] that threatens many lives), many smaller incidents require that an observer (or affected party) 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 service]]s) are responsible for emergency planning and management.