The snowmelt and rains observed in recent days have contributed to rising water levels and local flooding in many places in Poland. On the basis of up-to-date Sentinel-1 radar and Sentinel-2 optical imagery provided by the Copernicus programme, the Crisis Information Centre CBK PAN has developed water extent maps for areas located in the Mazowieckie, Pomorskie and Wielkopolskie Provinces.

The COLLARIS project conducted by our team was presented by Jakub Ryzenko at the DRS (Disaster Resilient Societies) event organised by CERIS (Community for European Research and Innovation for Security) in December 2023.

2023 was the final year of ProSPeReS (Protection System for large gatherings of People in Religious Sites) project. The project aimed to provide a comprehensive protection system based on cooperation between scientists, security experts and practitioners, public services and religious institutions representing the Catholic Church, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Jewish Community. ProSPeReS identified measures for increasing prevention and protection, and deterring and responding to various types of terrorist threats and incidents that may occur in religious places.

How will the COLLARIS program move forward and achieve its goal of building a sustainable network of experts related to BSP in civil protection and disaster response? This and many other issues were discussed at the first COLLARIS plenary meeting, which aimed to promote the project's activities and maximize the impact of the results achieved.

Reports “Innovation in Disaster Prevention: challenges, solutions and opportunities – post-conference paper” and “Geoinformation for crisis management: guidelines and examples” are available online

May this Christmas time be a time of warmth, happiness and prosperity in both your private and professional lives.

We would like to invite you to a webinar, which will take place on 14 December 2023 (Thursday) at 15:00 in remote form on the Zoom platform. The speakers will be Jakub Ryzenko and Emil Wrzosek. The event will be conducted in English.

Poster presented during SESAR Innovation Days 2023, hosted by University of Seville. The event was focused on the Inspiring long-term research in the field of air traffic management. The team from PANSA supported by SRC PAS prepared the poster "Innovation in coordination of air operations during civil protection activities". More information - https://www.sesarju.eu/sesarinnovationdays

On November 22, 2023, the final conference of the ProSPeReS project was held in Lodz, Poland. Addressed to all first responders, academics, people working for NGOs involved in the protection of places of worship, as well as personnel of places of worship.

New COLLARIS reports provide preliminary overview on solutions for data analysis and sharing as well as auxiliary support systems for UAS used in civil protection.

On September 27, 2023, at the Archcathedral Basilica of St. Stanislaus Kostka, Lodz, Piotrkowska Street a large-scale exercise was held as part of the project ProSPeReS.

On August 30-31, a provincial-level exercise was held in the Stalowa Wola district, in which the State Fire Service carried out selected flood response activities.

A COLLARIS workshop examined the use of drones and other UAS (unmanned aerial systems) in disaster response including its benefits but also existing and future obstacles and challenges. The workshop’s overall conclusion was: Once we have solved the problems, we have a bright future when using all these systems, giving us a more effective and correct situational overview.

We kindly invite to take part in a quick response survey with the goal to get an overview of currently used auxiliary support systems for UAS (unmanned aerial systems) in civil protection and disaster response. Auxiliary support systems can be different sensors or other equipment attached to a UAS.

Copernicus satellites provide images showing the scale of flooding in the Dnieper valley and the surrounding area after the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in the early morning of June 6, 2023.