What to do during a natural disaster

At a glance

What should you do if you're caught up in a cataclysm or natural disaster? Who should you notify, and what help can you count on?

No inhabitant of our planet, and especially no traveller, is immune to a cataclysm or natural disaster: major flooding, tidal wave, typhoon, tsunami, cyclone, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, severe wildfires, etc.

Living through (and surviving) such an experience is often very traumatic.
As a traveller, you feel even more helpless, isolated and left to your own devices when the event happens far from home. So it's important to have the right reflexes.

Package holiday or a trip you booked yourself?

First of all, be aware that if you booked your trip through a travel agency or tour operator, they may contact you before you leave or during your stay to warn you of a dangerous situation at your holiday destination.

If you haven't left yet, the tour operator may then offer to postpone, change or cancel your booking.
If you're already there, they will get in touch with you to offer a transfer to a safe place (a hotel) or an early return home. They can also assist you on the spot. In the event of a natural disaster, also follow the advice given further below in this article.

For trips you booked directly and on your own initiative (e.g. via the internet), you'll need to contact the various parties involved yourself (airline or transport company, hotel(s), car rental company, etc.) to see with them whether a change or cancellation of your bookings is possible.

Cancellation insurance contracts: With a few rare exceptions, the vast majority of cancellation assistance contracts do not cover natural disasters. Instead, they cover events affecting the policyholder's personal circumstances (illness, death, work situation, health, housing, etc). So you won't be able to use this insurance to cancel your trip.
This is the case with Redion's NoGo cancellation insurance contracts.

Travel assistance contracts: your travel assistance contract will step in if you have a medical problem on the spot, or if a natural disaster prevents you from making your return trip as originally planned, and this after assistance from your tour operator.

What to do during a natural disaster

1. Protect yourself

If the event is forecast and announced in advance (e.g. an approaching hurricane, a volcanic eruption, etc.), it's important to plan ahead, take shelter or even leave the area. Follow the recommendations of the local authorities and news bulletins on this. If you're travelling with a tour operator, they can inform or advise you on how to continue your trip.
When a disaster strikes, your first reflex and survival instinct will be to protect yourself and seek shelter: think of your own life (rather than the belongings you're carrying), that of the people with you, and of those around you. Once you've found a safe place, only leave your shelter once the disaster is over. Try to stay calm.
If the disaster has left you trapped (in a shelter), try to signal your presence to the outside world.

2. Follow emergency procedures

Once the disaster is over, comply with the instructions of the emergency services as well as the orders and procedures put in place by the local authorities.

3. Make your presence known

If possible, try to always keep your identity documents, a means of communication (mobile phone), a bit of money, etc. on you.
In the event of a large-scale disaster (with several victims or fatalities), it's important to let the local authorities and the Belgian authorities, as well as your family in Belgium, know how you're doing. This isn't always straightforward, however, when communication networks are badly disrupted. - Try to contact your family or your contacts in Belgium as soon as possible. - If communications abroad are difficult, try to contact the nearest Belgian diplomatic post (or, failing that, a diplomatic post of a European Union member state) to inform them of your presence. - Do the same if you're registered as a Belgian resident in the affected country.

Belgian travellers can register on the "Travellers Online" website https://travellersonline.diplomatie.be/ run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Thanks to this registration, the local consulate is aware of their presence and can more easily inform and help them in the event of a major problem. This registration is particularly useful if you're travelling outside the European Union.

In the event of major disasters, it's not uncommon for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to organise a group repatriation of victims and other Belgian nationals on the spot. This is why it's important for the local Belgian consulate to be able to locate you and stay in contact with you.
It's also essential for your loved ones back home to be informed and reassured about your situation. So try, by any means of communication available to you, to get in touch with them (phone, social media, internet, etc.), possibly through a contact on the spot.
In the event of large-scale disasters, Google activates its Google Person Finder website, where victims can make themselves known and people searching for affected or missing persons can send a description of the person they're looking for.

4. Notify your assistance provider

If you're injured during the disaster, first call on the emergency services present on the spot. Afterwards, inform your travel assistance company as soon as possible. They will take the necessary steps and may consider a possible repatriation. They can also stay in contact with your family back in Belgium, and help and advise the victim. However, the assistance company will be dependent on the situation on the ground, the ability of its local partners to intervene, the decisions and measures taken by local authorities, transport availability, and, where applicable, it will take into account the resources deployed by the Belgian authorities if they decide to carry out a large-scale group repatriation operation.
Has a disaster prevented you from making your return trip to Belgium, and are you unable to get help from a tour operator or an airline? Redion's assistance contracts allow you, in this case, to obtain financial support for the extra costs of accommodation on the spot and transport to and from the airport or railway station.

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First published 05/2015 - Updated 08/2023