On Thursday 7 October, the Crisis Centre of Belgium's Interior Affairs Department is conducting its annual test of the BE-Alert system, to send alerts in case of a disaster or emergency, or announce the latest coronavirus measures.
This year, 133 municipalities are participating in the test: all of them will send a message via text message, e-mail and/or phone to their residents who have registered for BE-Alert.
Some cities and municipalities will also send so-called 'location-based' alerts, which means that everyone present in the municipality at the time of the test will receive a text message, not just those who are registered.
The location-based test will take place in the Brussels municipality of Etterbeek, the Walloon municipalities of Faimes, Eupen, Clavier, Chaumont-Gistoux and Court-Saint-Etienne, and the Flemish cities of Aalst, Bruges and throughout the entire Antwerp province.
The purpose of the test is to test the capacity of the BE-Alert platform during a peak moment: a time or a day when many messages are sent simultaneously.
The National Crisis Centre holds a similar test once every year, on the first Thursday of October. Currently, more than 924,000 people are registered with BE-Alert.
To sign up for BE-Alert, click here.
