Alert ! Thousands of cell phones will ring at 10 a.m. Friday at the same time. The inhabitants of the nine coastal departments of the Mediterranean will receive a message evoking a tsunami on the French coasts. A full-scale training session, in order to test both the FR-Alert system and raise awareness among the population.
This exercise “does not call for any action or reaction from the recipients”, state services specify. No need, therefore, to “contact the police, emergency services, or telephone switchboards of the prefectures and town halls concerned”. And even less to “relay false rumors on social networks”.
Initially planned for the beginning of November, it was postponed due to the imminent passage of storm Ciaran in France and the risk of confusion among the population. A smaller exercise has already taken place in Frontignan (Hérault) in the fall.
Faced with the almost certain risk of a tsunami in the Mediterranean
From the Alpes-Maritimes to the Pyrénées-Orientales, via Corsica, recipients will be able, if they wish, to respond to the links sent in the message. One to map the receipt of notifications, the other for their feedback. Le Grau-du-Roi, the only coastal town in Gard, will be the subject of observations by students from the University of Avignon.
If all phones ring (including those in vibrate mode), no law enforcement will be deployed on the ground and no sirens will sound. The exercise is purely for preventive purposes, but it is far from trivial. In June 2022, UNESCO experts estimated the probability of a tsunami wave of more than one meter in the Mediterranean as almost certain within the next thirty years.