Yesterday, on October 1st, the municipality of Zoersel conducted a test of the BE-Alert emergency warning system. A total of 3834 registered residents or contacts received a test message. The test demonstrated that 96% of the messages were successfully delivered, allowing the municipality to test its emergency procedures and give residents an idea of what a BE-Alert message looks like.
BE-Alert is used to quickly warn and inform citizens during emergency situations, such as large fires, severe floods, or other incidents where rapid communication is essential.
Residents who did not receive a test message are encouraged to check their registration and contact details at www.be-alert.be. Registration is free and allows for multiple addresses to be added, such as home or work addresses.
The government can also send an SMS to all mobile phones within a specific zone during an acute emergency, even without prior registration. This is done via active mobile devices within range of a cell tower, with the list of numbers being automatically destroyed afterward. However, the test on October 1st was exclusively for registered users.
