“Crises involve events and processes that carry severe threat, uncertainty, an unknown outcome, and urgency…Most crises have trigger points so critical as to leave historical marks on nations, groups, and individual lives. Crises are historical points of reference, distinguishing between the past and the present….Crises come in a variety of forms, such as terrorism (New York World Trade Center and Oklahoma bombings), natural disasters (Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew in Florida, the Holland and Bangladesh flood disasters), nuclear plant accidents (Three- Mile Island and Chernobyl), riots (Los Angeles riot and the Paris riot of 1968, or periodic prison riots), business crises, and organizational crises facing life-or-death situations in a time of rapid environmental change….Crises consist of a ‘short chain of events that destroy or drastically weaken’ a condition of equilibrium and the effectiveness of a system or regime within a period of days, weeks, or hours rather than years….Surprises characterize the dynamics of crisis situations…Some crises are processes of events leading to a level of criticality or degree of intensity generally out of control. Crises often have past origins, and diagnosing their original sources can help to understand and manage a particular crisis or lead it to alternative state of condition” (Farazmand 2001, 3-4)