CEDA



"Good Question. Where is CEDA? All I see are the zombies..."

- Rochelle

"CEDA's not going to save us!"

- Nick

CEDA (Civil Emergency and Defense Agency) is a fictional governmental organization in the Left 4 Dead universe which is responsible for responding to disasters and assisting in the recovery. The most recent disaster they are assisting in, the Green Flu epidemic, has appeared to overwhelm them, as no living officials from the organization can be found. Only abandoned evacuation centers, advertisement and supplies, and some Infected CEDA operatives can be seen throughout the series.

Involvement with containing The Infection
CEDA have been involved in responding to the the Green Flu epidemic. They have created advertisements alerting the public about the disease, tried to evacuate citizens from highly infected areas, and even researched the disease.

Advertisements
Throughout the campaigns, advertisements from CEDA can be seen advising citizens to wear face masks, wash their hands, and seal their windows and other openings with plastic sheeting and duct tape to prevent the spread of the Infection. There are also "Safety Checklists" which instruct residents to barricade themselves in their basements and wait for help to arrive.

Evacuation Centers
When the Infection first began, CEDA first tried to contain the virus by quarantining the infected individuals from the public by keeping them in isolated buildings. However, this method was unsuccessful. CEDA then had to take the next step of full town and city evacuations. CEDA then began setting up evacuation centers around major urban centers such as hospitals, arenas, or malls where people were “forced” to go and await further instruction. A CEDA representative would assess the evacuation centers and provide hourly updates over all radio frequencies of the current conditions; however it is presumed that the infected individuals also made their way to those locations and quickly almost every evacuation center was overrun by the Infected. With the evacuation centers being overrun, it is rumored that CEDA either became infected themselves or that they have abandoned the public completely. The Survivors usually head for the nearest evacuation center in hope for help and to be transported out of the infected area, however by the time they arrive at the evacuation center, it has either been evacuated or completely overrun by the Infected.

Here is a list of some of the evacuation centers:

Left 4 Dead:

 * Fairfield Municipal Park (Unconfirmed but assumed to be overrun) This may be CEDA's first outdoor evacuation center (other than The Park ). This site was created before CEDA began the panic of thinking the virus was airborne and enforce new security measures such as face masks and decontamination trailers.


 * Hewlitt Recreation Center (Overrun) The recreation center was probably similar to a community center where CEDA set-up another evac site. This was perhaps one of the first evacuation centers to be overrun with infected. Similar to school evac sites, this was probably used as temporary shelter for citizens to take refuge.


 * Brigham Junior High School (Overrun) A junior high school located in Fairfield, this was one of possibly several schools used as an evacuation center. This site was similar in the movie:Resident Evil: Apocalypse where survivors made their way inside the junior high school.


 * Fairfield Civic Arena (Overrun) Fairfield's possible main evacuation center was the civic arena due to its large capacity capable of holding many citizens. CEDA probably focused more on this evacuation center due to the higher numbers of people and its location. However, due to its large number capability and the risk that CEDA wasn't able to screen everyone or didn't have time to screen everyone, infected people have made their way to the site and easily overran the evac site.


 * Borden High School (Overrun) A local high school in the City of Fairfield, this was possibly one of the remaining evacuation centers in the entire city (other than Mercy Hospital). With the city overrun with infected, survivors pulled out to the outer edges of the city making their way to the nearby town of Riverside possibly bring the virus with them.


 * Mercy Hospital (Overrun) Another one of the main evacuation sites in Fairfield and possibly the initial site of original infected victim. Most citizens ended up here where doctors were still trying to discover and understand the virus while screening citizens trying to separate the infected from the uninfected. CEDA possibly used the hospital and its equipment and staff to help diagnose the virus however the hospital became overcome very quickly and CEDA probably pulled out via the News Chopper. Many ingame clues also suggest that Mercy Hospital might have been ground zero of the infection.


 * Riverside First Church (Overrun) With Fairfield being overrun, the military took over the CEDA site and set up a command center in the nearby town of Riverside in hopes to keep the virus contained. Remaining evacuees headed to Riverside in hopes of rescue and were probably stuck waiting at the church until given the ok to enter the town. By then the infection had passed on from Fairfield to the outer districts and towns causing the infection to reach Riverside. The army quickly pulled out deserting any of the survivors in Riverside which soon also became infected. One of the last remaining survivors of Riverside was probably the Church Guy who finally succumbed to the infection.


 * Metro International Airport (Quarantined, bombed by the military and then overrun) Travelers from Fairfield may have gotten infected and brought the virus to the City of Newburg causing the continuous spread of the virus. CEDA tried to quarantine the airport and keep the infected away from the uninfected population of Newburg however once again they failed and the military ordered an immediate bombing of the airport. This method was very little effective because by the time they bombed the airport and the city, the entire city had already became infected.


 * Daughtery Farm (Assumed that CEDA was in control of it then taken over by the military and finally was overrun) One of the evacuation centers near Allegheny National Forest was this farm. CEDA told nearby civilians to head to the farmhouse to be rescued however, since the farm was in the middle of nowhere and the lack of CEDA and military gear and equipment, this evacuation site was easily overrun. Apparently, the City of Newburg or Metro International Airport is somewhat near this forest as a CEDA "Quarantine" poster was in the shed safe room informing people that the airport was quarantined.
 * Atlanta (Unconfirmed but assumed to be overrun) One of the last standing evacuation center cities in the Northeast quadrant according to The Sacrifice, CEDA announced for civilians to make their way there. The military most likely aided in keeping the city secure and safe but once again, as seen in The Hotel in Dead Center , CEDA failed yet again...

Left 4 Dead 2:

 * The Vannah Hotel (Evacuated and overrun) CEDA probably screened the civilians coming into the hotel then sent them inside to be evacuated, making them wait long periods of time before they were. The situation quickly began to descend into chaos as people turned into Infected, causing civilians and CEDA to retreat to the nearest evac station in Liberty Mall.


 * Liberty Mall (Overrun). CEDA provided shelter in the mall while they screened people and evacuated them from the area. But since malls are so big and there were so many people, Infected quickly got inside and killed or infected everyone.


 * Rayford, Georgia (Overrun): In the setting for The Sacrifice and The Passing, CEDA may have had some involvement here as infected CEDA workers can be seen as well as the captured tank in the train car. In The Underground, some graffiti humorously says that CEDA has been supplying the town with toilet paper. It seems that Rayford Prefered to survive the infection on their own, as evidenced by prescence of M60's, supply lockers, lack of CEDA equipment, and the Fallen Survivors. However, there are several buses, probably used for evacuation, that appeared to have either been abandoned, or crashed, as some of them block the streets.


 * Whispering Oaks Amusement Park (Maybe evacuated and overrun). Park staff probably worked to shelter the civilians. CEDA either had already set up shop or quickly decided to do so in an effort to evacuate civilians (as well as the Midnight Riders). To hold off Infected swarms, the evac was set up deep within the park at the entrance of the Peach Pit, where the Midnight Riders were scheduled to perform.


 * The Bus Station (CEDA once was in control of it then it was taken over by the military and was overrun). It can be assumed that everything was fine until the Infection caught up to the evac station. With the Infected at their heels, the panicked civilians rioted in an attempt to get to freedom. Knowing that it would be impossible to take everyone and make sure the virus didn't spread, the military was forced to take action and shoot all civilians outside the gate.


 * The Bridge (CEDA once was in control of it then it was taken over by the military, maybe evacuated Survivors and was overrun). Knowing that the situation was out of control, the military decided to evacuate anyone they could by quarantining an area between the uninfected and the Infected, only letting people through if it was confirmed they were not Infected or didn't help anyone escape. Inevitably, the attempts to quarantine the area were quickly failing. The bridge was to be destroyed to slow the spread of the Infection, as the Infected cannot swim (stated in graffiti and reinforced by boats being acceptable "safe" evacuation vehicles). Just before the bridge was to be destroyed, the Survivors were cleared to attempt to get across the bridge and escape via the last helicopter out of the area. (It should be noted that there is barely any CEDA equipment beyond the bus station to the bridge).



Research
It's not apparent how much CEDA knows about the infection, though it doesn't seem to be much. However, they definitely have done some research on it. They believed the infection may be airborne (this assumption supported by a Doctor who states sometimes it is airborne, but not other times) and think the disease might come from livestock. Out of all the Special Infected they appear to have the most knowledge about the Boomer. They have been able to manufacture jars of boomer bile and there is a research poster about the boomer in Dead Center which includes photographs of it (as seen in the picture). There is little or no mention of other Special infected by CEDA, although the pie chart shown on the poster may give the names of them, but is hard to see.

Boomer Bile
"Give the infected a taste of their own medicine with this CEDA-developed gastrointestinal projectile. Any zombie you soak with this puke grenade will be swarmed by common infected."

- Left 4 Dead 2 item description

In Left 4 Dead 2 there is a new grenade item called a Bile bomb. It is a glass jar filled with boomer bile which is manufactured by CEDA (since it is dropped by the CEDA Worker Infected). When thrown, the jar breaks, releasing the bile. Unlike regular boomer bile, it can attract infected even if it does not cover a person and can even attract infected to attack other infected. Survivors are also not affected by it. These abilities may mean CEDA is able to modify the bile (however, this may strictly be for gameplay and may not reflect the abilities of CEDA).

Suppression by the Military


Due to failure in containing the Infection and the virus becoming more of a public and national health hazard, CEDA was suspended and the US military took over all CEDA operations. Checkpoints and evacuation centers were taken over by the military who had authorization to use deadly force. Civilians were relieved when the military took over, however the military used much more "aggressive" means of containing the Infection by fencing everyone up, separating groups, and finally shooting Infected civillians or potential carriers of the Infection. Also CEDA-issued instructions on building a safe house stated that in accordance with CEDA Management Policies, no firearms or guns were permitted in safe rooms. However, when the military took over, they encouraged civillians to arm themselves. If you look closely at most of the military posters, they are from the USMC(United States Marine Corps).

Safety Posters
Through out the Left 4 Dead series, CEDA has manufactured various posters with safety tips and (unsuccessful) methods of preventing infection.