The Dordogne prefecture is organizing this Thursday, December 12 at Bergerac-Roumanières airport, a full-scale test of the ORSEC NOVI plan, a plan triggered in the event of a disaster, accident or attack generating a large number of victims. Nearly 300 people will be mobilized on site for a good part of the afternoon. As part of this exercise, 50,000 people located in 38 communes of Bergeracois will hear an unusual and particularly disturbing ringtone coming from their mobile phone at 12:30 p.m. It accompanies an alert message usually indicating what action to follow. “As this is a full-scale exercise, there is no need to call for help,” reassures Martin Lassalle, chief of staff of the Dordogne prefecture. “FR-Alert is a tool that sends you a notification with a loud sound signal on your phone in the event of serious and imminent danger” he explains. “The idea is to also be able to accustom Périgourdins to this new tool which is quite recent, which dates from 2022, to the way it works and how we would use it in a serious situation”.
FR-Alert had already been tested in Dordogne on April 9, 2024. That day, at 10:07 a.m., the exercise concerned all the inhabitants of the department.
