Tsunami alert after “an earthquake off the coast of Algeria”: this SMS from the authorities should be taken seriously

The prefectures of the Mediterranean departments send alerts to warn of a tsunami threat. The one sent this week is not up to date take to; the light.

Prefectures are now able to warn the French of imminent threats, with the most recent and most effective communication tools. The smartphone is the ideal medium for all citizens to receive urgent information or to circulate it as quickly as possible. To ensure that such a message is transmitted well, a "tsunami exercise" is organized in nine departments of the French coast this Friday.

What is it about? Between 10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m., hundreds of thousands of people will receive an audible notification on their mobile phones, to warn them that an underwater earthquake has occurred off the coast of Algeria, creating a tsunami that is expected to reach the entire French Mediterranean coast in a little over an hour. This is a fictitious scenario, allowing the authorities and residents concerned to be put into a situation.

The simulation is very advanced: the test begins with the sending of an alert to the operational center for interministerial crisis management, which will respond to it. to the 9 prefectures of the departments concerned: Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Gard, Hérault, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales, Haute- Corsica and South Corsica.

The message received by the administrators of these departments will depend on where they live and whether they live near or very close to the coast. The people most at risk will have these instructions:

• Evacuate the shores to their destination. more than 200 m from the coast
• Immediately reach a high point, at foot with an emergency kit
• À default, go up to upstairs of your house + 5m in height and stay there
• Wait for instructions from the authorities and listen to the radio

Please note, these instructions are fictitious, as reported by the services of the Var department, this exercise “does not call for any action on the part of the population, only the response to the questionnaire associated with it”. to the message in order to allow optimal feedback. It is even requested Please do not over-request the police, emergency services (15, 18 and 112) and local authorities for telephone calls. Also be vigilant about false information on social networks regarding this exercise.

All this must therefore be taken seriously without burdening the emergency services. The objective is to make it possible to improve the planned system, currently put in place by the FR-Alert system. It provides information on people located in real time in a given territory. (including those passing through and tourists).