C2000 TETRA network should be better secured
According to Mayor Bruls of Venlo, the security in the region last Tuesday morning was not at stake.
Mayor Henk van Beers of the city of Roermond in the Limburg south region is very concerned about the failure of the C2000 communication system of the emergency services in North Limburg. Last week, the TETRA system was down for 3 hours as it was struck by lightning.
"The C2000 system causes already lots of trouble over the years. There must be a solution, "says Van Beers, who is also chairman of the medical emergency services (GHOR) is. Mayor Hubert Bruls of Venlo, Limburg police force manager of the North, says that the system should be better protected from outside influences such as lightning.
According to the Ministry of Security it is the first time the system since its introduction in 1998 failed because of a lightning strike. As a result of the strike, the emergency room can not be used. Thirty fire brigade stations were staffed with dozens of firefighters physically. Civilians who called the emergency room, were routed to the various barracks. From there, the emergency rooms where controlled.
Moving operations to the emergency room of the Police Limburg-Zuid was not useful because, according to a spokesman for the extreme weather yesterday morning, a flood of messages was expected. The Ministry of Security, responsible for C2000, according to spokesman Jean Frenchman has launched an investigation into the failure of North Limburg. "Where exactly is the lightning smashed in Venlo is still unknown. Only the communication between the control room and on-site workers was not possible. The emergency workers between themselves could communicate with eachother through the C2000 system."
The fact that the stations were manned physically could indicate the failure of the backup communication system. Frenchman: "The system has in some places a double technical backup. If that failed, that would be the subject of research."According to Mayor Bruls of Venlo, the security in the region last Tuesday morning was not at stake. "Clear is that the system is sensitive to external factors like lightning now. We will find out how we can better protect C2000."
Source: www.limburger.nl
