What is an emergency?

In NSW, Part 4 of the State Emergency and Rescue Management Act defines emergency as

emergency means an emergency due to an actual or imminent occurrence (such as fire, flood, storm, earthquake, explosion, terrorist act, accident, epidemic or warlike action) which:

1. endangers, or threatens to endanger, the safety or health of persons or animals in the State, or
2. destroys or damages, or threatens to destroy or damage, property in the State,

being an emergency which requires a significant and co-ordinated response.

For the purposes of the definition of emergency, property in the State includes any part of the environment of the State. Accordingly, a reference in this Act to:

(a) threats or danger to property includes a reference to threats or danger to the environment, and

(b) the protection of property includes a reference to the protection of the environment.