Emergency numbers were down in Belgium. Be-Alert warned us and might have already saved people.

Today (April 5th, 2019), the 1st telecom operator of Belgium had major issues with its landline network. As a consequence, the emergency numbers (100,101, 112) were unavailable for 4 to 5 hours. Contigency solutions were rapidly set in motion but communication with the population was paramount in the effectiveness of these measures (If you setup an alternative number and nobody knows, it’s useless, isn’t it?).

The cautious amongst you who registered on the Belgium Crisis Center (@CrisisCenterBe on Twitter) early alerting system Be-Alert (https://be-alert.be), received rapidly and email informing them of the new numbers (and also of the return to the normal situation). So, no need to wait for a storm or a terrorist attack to see this governemental warning service being helpful.

So, if you weren’t registered yet, well, you just to click on the link!