Emergency planning

Major emergencies

In the event of a major emergency, we can help in different ways:

• make buildings such as leisure and community centres available to people
• provide health and safety advice on cleaning up after major flooding or pollution
• assess structural damage to buildings, and
• co-ordinate and lead multi-agency meetings to plan recovery.

We're also a member of the Belfast Emergency Preparedness Group (previously Belfast Resilience Forum) which brings together over 65 different organisations who work together to plan how to help the public in an emergency.

In the event of a serious emergency such as a serious chemical spillage, a fatal accident in a workplace or a dangerous building that is likely to collapse, please report to us:

During office hours: 028 9027 0428 
Out of office hours: 078504 99622 or 028 9027 0275

Report a problem in an emergency

• To report a fault or problem with your electricity supply, call NIE on 03457 643 643.
• To report a problem with your water supply, call NI Water on 03457 440 088.
• If you smell gas, call the NI Gas Emergency Service on 0800 002 001.

Preparing for an emergency

In a major emergency, it may be some time before the emergency services can help you.

The household emergency life-saving plan gives you a list of useful contact numbers in an emergency and also tells you what you should have in your household emergency pack.

• Visit nidirect to download the household emergency life-saving plan (link opens in new window)

Keep your completed plan somewhere safe where you can easily find it in an emergency.

For more information check the following (all links open in new window).

• Be ready for emergencies (nidirect)
• Preparing for flooding (nidirect)
• Winter help and advice (nidirect)
• Don't wait, insulate (NI Water)
• Winter wrapped up (Age NI)

What to do in an emergency

If there's an emergency, remember to:

• stay calm, reassure others and think before acting
• don't put yourself or others in danger
• follow the advice of the emergency services
• if people are injured or there is a threat to life call 999 or 112.

If there is a fire or other danger in your building, quickly and calmly leave by the nearest safe route and move to a safe location away from the building. Do not try to return until the emergency services tell you it is safe to do so.

Winter weather

You can report an issue with snow or ice on a public road or street on nidirect.

Report or apply on nidirect

You can also report an issue with ice or snow on a road by email or phone (for emergencies only) by contacting the Department for Infrastructure (link opens in new window).

Winter advice

You can find out more on our winter advice about:

• Staying warm in winter
• Health and wellbeing hints and tips to keep warm in winter
• Looking out for neighbours
• The Belfast Warm and Well project
• Age NI winter helpline

Met Office

You can keep up to date with winter weather forecasts from the Met Office NI (link opens in new window).

Travel

You can get up-to-date traffic and roads information from Traffic Watch NI (link opens in new window).

You can also find the latest information about bus and rail services from Translink (link opens in new window).

Emergency numbers

These are some useful numbers to note in case of emergency:

• Emergency services: 999 or 112
• Northern Ireland Electricity Networks: 03457 643 643
• NI Gas Emergency Service: 0800 002 001
• Northern Ireland Water Waterline: 03457 440 088
• Flooding Incident Line: 0300 2000 100
• Housing Executive: 03448 920 901
• Find out more emergency contact numbers

You can visit nidirect for more snow and ice weather warning information (link opens in new window).

Power cuts

If your power has been affected by bad weather, please call NIE on 03457 643 643.

Flooding

If you experience flooding, please call the Flooding Incident Line on 03002 000 100.

• Read more about advice for flooding

Orangefield Park

In 2014, the Knock River was diverted within Orangefield Park as a key component of the Connswater Community Greenway and East Belfast Flood Alleviation Scheme. 

As a result, areas adjacent to the new river pathway within the park are designed to flood at times of increased rainfall which protects many homes within the area from flooding.

Park signage will inform park visitors about potential dangers if there is heavy flooding and advise of an alternative route so that you can safely bypass the flooding.

The pathway will be illuminated at all times. If heavy flooding occurs in a particular section, we may close it for a period and re-open when it is safe to do so.

Critical care registers

• If you or someone in your family relies on electricity or water due to a medical condition you should sign up to the NI Electricity or NI Water critical care registers.  Examples include people on a ventilator or with a stair lift or electric hoist in their home. 
• Find out more about who is eligible and how to register on the NI Electricity website (link opens in new window) or by calling them on 03457 643 643.
• If you have a serious medical condition and you rely on having water, you should sign up to NI Water’s customer care register. You can find out more on the NI Water website (link opens in new window) or by calling Waterline on 08457 440 088.

Communities

In an emergency, often friends, neighbours and members of the local community work together to help each other. Some communities have started to develop their own community emergency plan for their area. 

If you are thinking about starting a community emergency plan in your area, please email info@emergencypreparednessni.gov.uk for more information.

Businesses

Employers have a responsibility for the safety and security of their staff. All businesses should have arrangements in place to deal with the impact of a major incident or disaster. 

Belfast Resilience and its members run regular business continuity events for local businesses. 

If you would like to attend our next event, please email info@emergencypreparednessni.gov.uk. 

Schools

All schools have plans to cope with local emergencies such as fire and flood. Make sure you find out in advance what your school’s emergency arrangements are. It is also useful to plan who you will ask to collect your children from school if you are unable to do so in an emergency.

The Regional Community Resilience Group (RCRG) Newsletter

You can read the latest Autumn Winter 2020 - 2021 edition of the Regional Community Resilience Group (RCRG) Newsletter on the Department for Infrastructure's website (link opens in new window).

It provides helpful information on:

• preparing for the winter weather
• getting the flu vaccine
• public health advice during the pandemic including testing and contact tracing to break the chain of transmission of the virus