“Tsunami alert” drill planned Friday in Alpes-Maritimes and Var
People located in real time in nine French departments will receive an alert on their phone - © Préfecture des Alpes-Maritimes
Please keep the emergency lines free and refrain from spreading false rumours on social media.
On Friday 3 November, people who are geolocated in nine departments in the south of France, including Alpes-Maritimes, Var and Bouches-du-Rhône*, will receive an alert on their phone thanks to the FR-Alert system. This applies as much to tourists and passers-through as to local residents.
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It will in fact be a drill, starting at 10 am and finishing at 11.15 am. The chosen scenario is that an undersea earthquake has occurred off the coast of Algeria, generating a tsunami that is likely to reach the entire French Mediterranean coast within 77 minutes to 94 minutes.
No particular action is expected from the general public, but the préfectures concerned have issued two specific instructions:
- Do not inundate the police (17), emergency services (15, 18 and 112) and local authorities (préfecture and town hall) with phone calls.
- Do not spread false rumours or information on social networks: X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, etc.
*The drill will take place in Alpes-Maritimes, Var, Bouches-du-Rhône, Gard, Hérault, Aude, Pyrénées-Orientales, Haute-Corse and Corse-du-Sud.