Poland to develop new emergency alert system

The Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration is developing a new emergency alert system to improve public safety communications. The initiative follows recent failures in alerting citizens during an incident involving a Russian missile that landed in Tarnawa-Kolonia on July 30. During that event, sirens were activated in some areas, but residents did not receive explanatory SMS alerts from the Government Security Centre (RCB).

Minister Marcin Kierwiński announced that a new solution could be launched within several dozen weeks. The government is considering integrating the service into the mObywatel application, which has approximately 14 million users, or creating a separate overlay. Officials are also exploring Cell Broadcast technology, which can send loud signals directly to mobile devices even if they are silenced or locked, without requiring a specific app installation.

The move aims to address criticisms regarding the current SMS-based system, which suffers from inconsistent delivery speeds across different operators. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has also emphasized the need for better procedures, such as sending follow-up messages to calm the public after an alarm is lifted. Previous attempts to provide digital safety guides during emergencies resulted in website crashes due to high traffic.