Poles take part in nationwide emergency training
Around 1,400 events are being held across Poland this weekend as part of a National Response Training day, teaching residents how to react to alarm signals and prepare for emergencies.
A civil protection and defence education point opens in Lublin, eastern Poland, as part of National Response Training day.PAP/Wojtek Jargiło
Free sessions are taking place at fire stations, libraries, community centres and local events, covering topics from emergency kits to shelter locations.
Participants are taught a simple four-step approach: recognise the alarm signal, verify it through an official source, decide how to act, then check the nearest shelter.
At an event in Białystok, northeastern Poland, on Saturday, one local resident said he already kept „a go-bag ready with a first-aid kit, charger, radio and dried food.”
Another said public awareness of potential threats had clearly grown.
In Toruń, north-central Poland, officials focused on shelter guidance and emergency kits, while Piotr Chryniewicki of the regional crisis management centre urged people to rely only on trusted sources during a crisis.
„Fake news is what can really do the most damage. Don’t check Facebook — check RCB [Government Centre for Security ed.] alerts, official government sites and mainstream media,” he said.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński, taking part in drills in the northern town of Barczewo, said Poland still has „a great deal to do” to build an effective public warning system, pointing to years of underinvestment.
His ministry plans to launch an app for remotely triggering alarm sirens by the end of the year, alongside a public alert app and, longer term, a cell-broadcast system to send warnings directly to mobile phones.
The exercises are part of the government’s Civil Protection and Defence Academy, in which nearly 290,000 people have taken part since the start of 2026, according to officials.
(ał)
Source: polskieradio24.pl
Radio Poland
