Safer together

The Safer together (Razem bezpieczniej) project, currently underway, aims to coordinate the work of Polish and Slovak disaster management authorities between 2024 and 2026 in order to increase the border region’s resilience to climate change and extreme weather events (e.g. fires and floods). The project, implemented under the Poland-Slovakia Interreg program 2021-2027, supports joint action by authorities specifically in cases where a disaster in the border region exceeds the local capacity of the country concerned, the endangered area can be reached more quickly and easily from the other side of the border, or the disaster affects both sides of the border and parallel intervention is needed on both the Polish and Slovak sides. The target area of the project is the border section between the Lesser Poland Voivodeship and the Prešov Region.

The project will establish a formal framework for joint action, a methodology for information sharing between the two countries, and a network of contacts and links between the various local rescue centers. A cross-border radio system will be set up, which will involve the construction of the necessary telecommunications infrastructure and the expansion of radio coverage. The plans also include the purchase of rescue equipment (e.g. drones equipped with thermal cameras), the organization of joint training courses, and the interconnection of computer systems (hardware). The project is expected to be completed in February 2026.