The Second Emergency
When systems fail, people still need help.
Power, phones, payments and public services connect our daily lives. This website explains what happens when they fail, and how households and communities can prepare.
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The first emergency is the failure.
The second is what it means for people.
One failure. Two things to deal with.
Choose an example.
Payments stop working
The system problem
What needs to be repaired or restored
A payment network has failed. Banks and payment companies are working to restore it.
What people need
What must happen for people while repairs continue
Residents still need to buy food and medicine, and shops and pharmacies need another way to serve them.
Phones stop working
The system problem
What needs to be repaired or restored
A communications network has failed. Technical teams are working to restore it.
What people need
What must happen for people while repairs continue
Residents still need to call for help, reach family and receive reliable information.
Water service is interrupted
The system problem
What needs to be repaired or restored
A water treatment system is not working properly. Operators are working to restore safe treatment.
What people need
What must happen for people while repairs continue
Residents still need safe drinking water, clear instructions, and help for neighbours who cannot carry bottled water.
These responsibilities begin together. That is why we talk about the second emergency.
What is an emergency?
An emergency is a serious situation that threatens people’s safety, health, homes or community and needs urgent action.
It might begin with a flood, a fire, an outbreak of disease or a major accident. It can also begin when an essential service fails. Sometimes the lights are on, but the systems people depend on are not working.
The Plan
Emergency management has 5 parts. The household plan brings each one home.
Emergency management is the work of protecting people before, during and after an emergency. Governments do it at scale. The household plan helps you do the same at your kitchen table, one part at a time.
- 1
Prevention
Know what your household depends on, so one failure does not take everything down with it.
See this part of the plan - 2
Mitigation
Money, health needs, home and pets: small steps now so an outage hurts less.
See this part of the plan - 3
Preparedness
Reach your people, know your neighbours, find information you can trust, fill in your two household sheets and practise once.
See this part of the plan - 4
Response
If this happens today: what to do right now, alongside official help, never instead of it.
See this part of the plan - 5
Recovery
When service comes back: what to check, and how to get your household back on its feet.
See this part of the plan
Why does AI belong here?
Artificial intelligence, or AI, helps people translate a message, understand a document, write software and find useful information. It can also help specialists identify threats and solve problems more quickly. Those benefits matter.
Some AI systems now do more than answer questions. When connected to other tools, they can send messages, change records and carry out a series of actions with less human supervision. A mistake can become an action, and someone can use these capabilities deliberately to cause harm.
AI belongs in emergency planning because it can introduce new failures and make familiar threats faster, larger or harder to detect.
Why we are asking these questions now
Last checked 1 November 2026.
Incident17 September 2026
Some 911 calls did not get through.
Bell’s next-generation 911 network failed for 87 minutes overnight across 6 provinces, and some calls did not reach emergency call centres. Bell says it was a software fault, not an attack.
Why it matters to people. For part of a night, some people calling for help could not reach it.
Source: MobileSyrup
Incident21 October 2026
Toronto Crime Stoppers stopped taking tips.
After a breach at its software provider, 176,859 Toronto tips were stolen. Crime Stoppers paused all tips.
Why it matters to people. A service built on a promise of anonymity could no longer keep it, and Toronto lost its anonymous way to report a crime.
Source: The Record
Warning25 October 2026
Canada’s cyber agency warned that AI is speeding up attacks.
The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security said attackers used AI to carry out several stages of attacks across many organizations, and told essential services to prepare for systems becoming unavailable.
Why it matters to people. The services people rely on are being told to plan for working without their systems.
See all recent incidents and warnings, including France and Bay Street
Where would you like to start?
For you and your household
Practical steps for preparing for interruptions to everyday services.
Start with 5 practical steps, then print your household sheets.
Open the household planFor people responsible for a community
A discussion paper and a guided exercise to help teams test their preparations.
The discussion paper · The tabletop exercise · The full argument
Explore the community resourcesIndependent public education by Angela Lindow. For instructions during an active emergency, follow your local authorities. The household plan is a public review draft.
Working notes · Why the second emergency · On the Record · About the author