Poland's safety guide: 3 days of supplies and an evacuation backpack
Poland's 'Poradnik bezpieczeństwa' (Safety Guide, 1/2025) asks households to keep supplies for at least 3 days and check them regularly. Plan on at least 3 litres of water per person per day, and prepare an evacuation backpack (plecak ewakuacyjny) that would let you get through at least 3 days.
What this means for your household
Set your household size to see the days, water and food the Poland advice adds up to.
Prepare home supplies for at least 3 days and check them regularly.
Drinking water for 2 people. Official figure: About 3 L per person per day.
Person-days of food to cover (2 × 3). Pick food that needs no fridge and little or no cooking.
Home supplies and the evacuation backpack
From the government's Safety Guide and State Fire Service advice.
- Home: food and water for at least 3 days, at 3 L of water per person per day
- Backpack: enough to get through at least 72 hours, and consider up to 7 days
- Backpack: a battery radio and a torch
- Backpack: your most important documents
- Backpack: a lighter or matches, masks and a paper map
- Backpack: a can opener and meals for 2 days
- A spare phone and a power bank
How Poland warns you
- Alarm: a modulated (rising and falling) siren tone for 3 minutes.
- All-clear: a continuous, steady siren tone for 3 minutes.
- Warnings also come by megaphone, through the RSO regional warning app and as RCB alerts by text message to phones.
- If the authorities order an evacuation, follow their instructions without exception.
Poland-specific steps
- Read the 'Poradnik bezpieczeństwa' and the government's guide for times of crisis and war.
- Install the RSO app for regional warnings, and make sure your phone receives RCB alerts.
- Keep the evacuation backpack by the door, ready to grab.
- Check your supplies regularly and replace anything close to its expiry date.
Go beyond the minimum: what we recommend
Official lists cover the basics. These are the gaps we see most often when an emergency lasts longer than expected.
- Build toward 7 days of water and food, even if the official minimum is 3. Outages often last longer than planned.
- Keep paper and digital copies of IDs, insurance and prescriptions, so you can prove who you are and get medicines.
- Write the expiry date on everything and check the kit every 6 months, so it doesn't quietly go out of date.
- Plan for phone power: a charged power bank, plus a solar panel or car charger for longer outages.
- Save offline maps of your area and agree a meeting point, in case the mobile network is down.
- An offline survival guide on your phone: HAVEN tracks your kit and expiry dates and works with no signal.Download HAVEN free
Numbers to write down
- 112 · Emergency number
- RSO app · Regional warnings
Keep a paper copy: your phone may be flat when you need it.
Your kit, ready when the network isn't
HAVEN tracks your 3-day supplies and evacuation backpack with expiry reminders, and its guides work offline if the network goes down.
- Coverage in days for your household
- Expiry reminders
- Offline guides and AI
- Free to start, no account needed
How Poland compares
Poland: 3 days. Across the 25 governments we checked, most ask for 3 days, a growing group asks for a week, and Austria asks for the most, at 10 to 14 days. See every country's advice.
Poland preparedness FAQ
How many days of supplies does Poland recommend?
At least 3 days, according to the government's Safety Guide (Poradnik bezpieczeństwa, 1/2025). Check them regularly.
How much water should I store in Poland?
At least 3 litres per person per day. For a family of four over 3 days that is 36 litres.
What goes in a plecak ewakuacyjny?
A battery radio, a torch, important documents, a lighter or matches, masks, a map, a can opener and meals for 2 days, plus a power bank. It should get you through at least 72 hours.
What does the Polish alarm siren sound like?
A rising and falling tone for 3 minutes means an alarm. A steady, continuous tone for 3 minutes means the alarm is over.
What is an RCB alert?
A text message sent to phones by the Government Centre for Security (RCB) to warn people in an area about a danger.
Official sources
- Poradnik bezpieczeństwa: przygotuj swoje otoczenie (gov.pl)
- Poradnik bezpieczeństwa 1/2025 (PDF)
- Poradnik na czas kryzysu i wojny (RCB)
- Plecak ewakuacyjny (KW PSP Poznań)
This page summarises official advice and is not a substitute for it. Always follow the instructions of your local emergency services. Last checked 2 November 2026.