Lets say a EMP or a similar style event happened somewhere or worldwide. How long do you think things would fall apart? How long do you think martial law would be enacted?
My thought on the first question is that after a few hours to 2 days after a EMP or a similar style event happened people will begin looting and performing other crimes. For the second question martial law would occur a matter of hours or days after a EMP or a similar style event happened.
I guess to address it, we'd have to discuss the issue of grid down. Texas is the only state in the Union which has its own grid. The State Emergency Management and Texas Electric Alliance and TXU, work very diligently to address that issue. Since we have temperatures over a 100 degrees, combined with that with an ever-growing population in our four major Metropolitan areas, we are possibly better prepared than most states, alas, I think I will break it down into three areas.
A local one, typically will be handled by the electric company with support from local/county government. The county in which I live in, actually has a very well written plan because they experienced a grid down event in the late 70's as a result of the tornado that destroyed half the city. Most people around here have a diesel or gas generator, a very few minority have a Genrac or natural gas/LP fed generator or alternative energy/battery back-up. As far as martial law is concerned, it will automatically be done after the assessment indicates that the event is not short-term. A long-term local event will also have the governor's office involved and possibly a limited deployment of National Guard troops to support both logistics and law enforcement back-up roles.
A regional or state event, go to your state's Emergency Management Annex, it should be written in there, some of the areas may be access denied, but you should be able to get a good idea of what will trip that reaction.
Lastly, a total federal response would either be as a result of an intended/premeditated event or an catastrophic event that impacted the grid. In that aspect, the Governor each state would place a request for support and the President under the parameters addressed delineated in his powers, would initiate necessary protocols, but as I said, if your asking for a timeline it takes time to bring forces to the locale...so that is the window people must take into consideration when addressing Martial Law...
A great example to watch is how the Governor of Missouri is reacting to what is occurring in Ferguson, MO. In fact, I've been keeping a time clock on each action to get a better understanding of how this will work out. We've not had many instances of martial law on our home soil and since 9-11, now each state has better equipment to respond to these types of events.
I know that it does not give you a detailed timeline, but its a good start.
