a new, more modern alert system launched after Lubrizol
Since June 21, the FR-Alert population information system has been operational throughout France. An attack exercise will be carried out around the Zénith de Rouen, at Grand-Quevilly on Tuesday, June 28.
If you receive an attack alarm on your mobile on Tuesday, June 28, don’t be afraid! The new device information to populations EN-Alert will be tested in a simulation. All people within a radius of one and a half kilometers around the Zénith de Rouen, in Grand-Quevilly (Seine-Maritime) will be alerted.
With this system, the user receives both a completely unusual ring tone and a message explaining the nature of the event and the action to be taken. The Seine-Maritime prefecture unveiled the outlines on Friday, June 24.
From now on, throughout France, the prefectures could justify this system in the event of a natural disaster, a leak on an industrial site, a large-scale fire or an attack.
This is a real qualitative leap for crisis managers since it will allow, including at night, to send a message that will be better understood unlike the sirens.
Pierre-André Durand, Prefect of Seine-Maritime
The same device has been used in the United States for over 30 years. It is based on cell broadcast technology (cell diffusion, in English). In the event of a disaster, the prefect activates the telephone pylons nearby. Any telephone born at one of these pylons then automatically receives a message.
The alert messages are thus broadcast in the form of radio waves by the telecommunications antennas and not by SMS. Objective: to avoid network saturation when sending to a large number of people. He pre-registration is not required.
It is a notification that imposes itself on the user even if they are playing a game or their phone is in silent mode. On the other hand, you do not receive it if your smartphone is in airplane mode or if it is turned off.
Yves Hocde, General Directorate for Civil Security and Crisis Management
FR-Alert responds both to a 2018 European directive and to the promises made by the government after the Lubrizol fire. At the time, on September 28, 2019, the sirens held back a little before 8 a.m. in the Rouen conurbation, nearly 5 hours after the incident. 5 hours of glaring lack of information. The prefect then explains not wanting to cause panic in the middle of the night by activating them earlier.
This new system must therefore be more reactive and modern than the sirens. For now, the alert works for 4G and 5G phones. For mobiles that use the 2 and 3G network, another geolocated SMS system will be effective in the fall.
Eventually, 99% of the French population will be able to be alerted.