nl-alert.nl

[778 neighbour of some guy]

Hello dear all over the worlders.

I have a question to all of you, perhaps a serious one or perhaps I am slightly more then just a little bit suspicious about this, in any case this doesn't sit well with me at all.

11:48 I received a text message, apparently without my consent or even being informed about this in advance, the Dutch government decided to hook me up to their ALERT system, meaning, you get a text in case some sh!t is happening in my area, chem spill, fire, natural disaster, blah blah blah, very nice and considerate of course, but I cant remember asking for this ( we still have sirens the first Monday of the month that get a test run, had something to do with Germans 70 years ago and allied forces dropping bombs on us by accident and after that the Soviet bombers). Anywho, from now on I'll get a text message every month at 12.00 as a test.


Well now, natural disasters are pretty rare here, had a flood once over 50 years ago ( our own Katrina) and last Tuesday some heavy winds, but nothing too bad really, some trees fell over last week in a storm and some unfortunate people were standing to close and some large ones fell on a couple of houses and some cars, apparently this was the worst storm in 20 years and people were advised to stay indoors, and o yeah a couple of years ago I felt an earthquake that make a teaspoon tingle ONCE in my mug, but that's it.

I went to their web page and they actually advise you to have some gear prepped, nothing fancy though, flashlight, multitool, tea candles, water, matches, whistle, emergency blanket, first aid kit, batteries, just some very basic minor stuff that looks like its compiled to take care of a power outage that lasts only a couple of hours.

Well here's my question, do you also have a national system like that in place and wouldn't you wonder what the hell is up if you get a text like that out of the blue, could it be a warning of things to come in the near future, what could be up here, am I seeing things that aren't there, wouldn't you have mixed feeling about something like that, what do you guys think?

BTW the sky is grey its raining and there are jet planes in the air, cant see them but I do hear them.

[Lifebringer]

nl-alert=Enlil alert?
Hmm.. all I can say is keep your eyes and ears open, we may have a visitor soon, and He may not be happy with what's happened yet again to the beings on the planet, and the greed that has destroyed it.

[Axman]

Yes they use the same system here in the states in the city I'm in also for the schools but cant say they do the tests on the phones every month ,just city wide for that.We have sirens that sound.

The Axman

[778 neighbour of some guy]

nl-alert=Enlil alert?
Hmm.. all I can say is keep your eyes and ears open, we may have a visitor soon, and He may not be happy with what's happened yet again to the beings on the planet, and the greed that has destroyed it.

I doubt this is Enlil Alert;), NL is short for Nederland (Netherlands/Holland), like US is short for United States.

But thanks Lb

[RMorgan]

Well...The way I see it, this opens a big chance for someone to play a countrywide chaotic prank.

Just get hold of the cellphone list and send them a message like "This is not a test. A deadly chemical agent has been released in central Amsterdam. Stay in your homes and don't panic. This is not a test"...

I guess you could imagine the results...

[spiritguide]

Your government is just informing you what you should do to help yourself in case of emergency. Some disasters of magnitude that may occur will paralyse even the best of government aid. They are just saying to be prepared. In the case of the geographical location of the Netherlands you have the disadvantage of being at sea level or below and globally all coastal locations are being told to be alert because of earth changes or impacts in the oceans. IMHO

Peace!

[Nick Matkin]

In the UK we have a flood-alert system. I live near a river that has been known to flood badly, damaging homes and businesses.

I signed up to the flood-alert system a few years ago. I agree that it is very unnerving to get a text or recorded phone message along the lines of "be aware" or "take action now", especially if you are too far away from home to do anything!

As far as I know, we have to pro-actively join the system; "They" don't get hold of your phone number to send you unsolicited messages, even if your property is in imminent danger, unless you've agreed to receive them.

I see no problem with the system at all. It's a good idea isn't it? I don't see it as "Big Brother-ish", or unnecessarily intrusive, it's there to help people for goodness sake. Anyone not having a TV or radio for fear of being indoctrinated or brainwashed (which also means they're missing documentaries showing the fragile splendours of our planet), may be glad of such a warning...

Nick

[Snowflower]

I signed up for what we call the "reverse 911 call list." At 1:00 A.M. I got a call of a flash flood warning: if on low ground, go high, if on high ground, shelter in place. Soooo, since I am on high ground, I hung up and promptly fell asleep again. And missed the height of the flood. 6:00 A.M. I was up and found goats 9 inches deep in running water, ducks swimming and quacking in glee, chickens trying to fly (2 drowned), river rushing past my house (no river here normally) and our land cut off for the next two weeks by a totally destroyed road. Two months later, our road only slightly passable, highway to plains still closed, 3 hour trip to town for distance previously 1 hour, selling goats because hay supply for winter was wiped out and couldn't buy enough replacement to feed full herd since the hay crop in the whole north part of the state was wiped out. Tell you what. I will take reverse 911 calls really seriously from now on.

[778 neighbour of some guy]

Well...The way I see it, this opens a big chance for someone to play a countrywide chaotic prank.

Just get hold of the cellphone list and send them a message like "This is not a test. A deadly chemical agent has been released in central Amsterdam. Stay in your homes and don't panic. This is not a test"...

I guess you could imagine the results...

Yeah, nice example Raf, the website Denk Vooruit, ( Think Ahead) makes an effort to get people to get some basic gear together too and there are some webshops who sell emergency preparedness gear who will definitely benefit from the sending of this text, it gives me the creepy feeling something is up in short order, I can certainly see the logic and common decency toward a nations population ( any nation) to have an early warning system in place and suppose that is a good thing, but eh, errrrrrrrrr, wtf, why now, people walk around with cellphones for 15 years at least already, I don't like the sudden urgency one bit, its also a half baked attempt if you ask me, something in the order of " don't count on us if something is up, you are on your own, we told you so didn't we?". Furthermore there is no phone number list ( that's the first thing I thought of myself, crap the government is in my phone now, wtf ), I checked out the website and apparently its a signal that gets send to all cell nrs in the area without exception, but dammit, they are now in my life without asking my permission, I hate that, its applied blunt force trauma to my privacy, this is Holland, the most boring small country on the planet, nothing happens here, people work, go home, watch tv, get drunk, eat cheese, get high, ride a bicycle, visit their grandmothers, 50 years can go by here without incident, so what's up with that, why this crap suddenly.:confused:

So, there you go, that's what I make of this.

You guys in Brazil have a similar system in place Raf?

[Operator]

Well...The way I see it, this opens a big chance for someone to play a countrywide chaotic prank.

Just get hold of the cellphone list and send them a message like "This is not a test. A deadly chemical agent has been released in central Amsterdam. Stay in your homes and don't panic. This is not a test"...

I guess you could imagine the results...

War of the worlds 2013 style ... ?

[778 neighbour of some guy]

Your government is just informing you what you should do to help yourself in case of emergency. Some disasters of magnitude that may occur will paralyse even the best of government aid. They are just saying to be prepared. In the case of the geographical location of the Netherlands you have the disadvantage of being at sea level or below and globally all coastal locations are being told to be alert because of earth changes or impacts in the oceans. IMHO

Peace!

Thanks SG, but ah well erm uh nah duh, what you say makes complete sense, don't get me wrong here, but we somewhat invented modern levy building and can handle just about everything water can throw at us, that kid with his vinger in the levy ( old story, very true, no I am nothing ****ting you) was Dutch, we are famous for handling things concerning water all over the globe. We are also stubborn as hell and hate it when things go south, we are a very organized people ( totally anal), must be a damn big quake or impact before we admit that we have a problem, we actually get very cranky when things don't go our way and are willing to pick a fight with a meteor if need be, no stray rocks in these streets ( Dutch are a bit spoiled tightasses, like Germans without a moustache, but orderly rows it is, people talk about us like we are the most liberal country ever but nah, not true)

[778 neighbour of some guy]

Your government is just informing you what you should do to help yourself in case of emergency. Some disasters of magnitude that may occur will paralyse even the best of government aid. They are just saying to be prepared. In the case of the geographical location of the Netherlands you have the disadvantage of being at sea level or below and globally all coastal locations are being told to be alert because of earth changes or impacts in the oceans. IMHO

Peace!

Thanks SG, but ah well erm uh nah duh, what you say makes complete sense, don't get me wrong here, but we somewhat invented modern levy building and can handle just about everything water can throw at us, that kid with his vinger in the levy ( old story, very true, no I am nothing ****ting you) was Dutch, we are famous for handling things concerning water all over the globe. We are also stubborn as hell and hate it when things go south, we are a very organized people ( totally anal), must be a damn big quake or impact before we admit that we have a problem, we actually get very cranky when things don't go our way and are willing to pick a fight with a meteor if need be, no stray rocks in these streets ( Dutch are a bit spoiled tightasses, like Germans without a moustache, but orderly rows it is, people talk about us like we are the most liberal country ever but nah, not true)

I'll edit this in here,

well ok ok we cant handle everything, if a piece of England for some reason decides to break off on the channel side we might have an issue but I don't see a Fukushima happen here any time soon, we are so tidy uptight its d=ridiculous, twice a month the city's green department come around and spray accidental blades of grass with poison when they spot one between the pavement stones, money is being pumped in our waterworks all the time, we are surrounded by it, north sea, rivers, canals, its been like that for hundreds of years and we pump it back into the rivers or ocean almost at the same speed as it rises, houses that do get flooded are usually a few, and those have mostly been build ridiculously close to the water, an occasional flooded basement, that's about it really:confused:

[RMorgan]

You guys in Brazil have a similar system in place Raf?

No, we don't, my friend.

Brazil is a gigantic country, making a nationwide disaster very very improbable.

Usually, when there's a risk for a region to suffer a natural disaster, such as a flood, the warning is displayed on local television channels and radio stations.

As far as I know, there's no local or nationwide cellphone alert system in place here.

Raf.

[spiritguide]

Your government is just informing you what you should do to help yourself in case of emergency. Some disasters of magnitude that may occur will paralyse even the best of government aid. They are just saying to be prepared. In the case of the geographical location of the Netherlands you have the disadvantage of being at sea level or below and globally all coastal locations are being told to be alert because of earth changes or impacts in the oceans. IMHO

Peace!

Thanks SG, but ah well erm uh nah duh, what you say makes complete sense, don't get me wrong here, but we somewhat invented modern levy building and can handle just about everything water can throw at us, that kid with his vinger in the levy ( old story, very true, no I am nothing ****ting you) was Dutch, we are famous for handling things concerning water all over the globe. We are also stubborn as hell and hate it when things go south, we are a very organized people ( totally anal), must be a damn big quake or impact before we admit that we have a problem, we actually get very cranky when things don't go our way and are willing to pick a fight with a meteor if need be, no stray rocks in these streets ( Dutch are a bit spoiled tightasses, like Germans without a moustache, but orderly rows it is, people talk about us like we are the most liberal country ever but nah, not true)

I'll edit this in here,

well ok ok we cant handle everything, if a piece of England for some reason decides to break off on the channel side we might have an issue but I don't see a Fukushima happen here any time soon, we are so tidy uptight its d=ridiculous, twice a month the city's green department come around and spray accidental blades of grass with poison when they spot one between the pavement stones, money is being pumped in our waterworks all the time, we are surrounded by it, north sea, rivers, canals, its been like that for hundreds of years and we pump it back into the rivers or ocean almost at the same speed as it rises, houses that do get flooded are usually a few, and those have mostly been build ridiculously close to the water, an occasional flooded basement, that's about it really:confused:

Neighbor, I have been to NL back in the 60's and appreciate what you say. Fine place, fine people and open hospitality.

Peace!