In 1995 the City of Prague developed a Rescue and Safety System as crisis management means. The system’s tasks are to co-ordinate emergency situations and disasters, to integrate recovery capacities after a disaster and to integrate the communication and warning systems of the city administration as well as the city population.

The Rescue and Safety System is not only responsible for handling typical emergency situations but also for helping the population, through property protection, environment protection and the maintenance and rapid repair of infrastructure.

It has access to several tools for monitoring, communicating and warning tasks, such as the municipal camera system, the municipal radio system, a warning and announcement system and communication links between the operating call centres.

The central co-ordination point for all communication and actions in emergency situations and disasters is the city hall in the City of Prague, which is assigned tasks by the Czech Ministries of Defence, the Interior, Transportation and the Environment.

With regards to warning and information, the City of Prague has an Autonomous Warning and Notification System. This system consists of :

• a control room (the operations center of the City of Prague Crisis Team),
• electronic sirens throughout the city,
• devices for radio signal transmission which can control sirens and transmit other necessary information.

The electronic sirens are not only capable of generating warning signals but can also transmit “SOS” information, and manage warnings without power supply from central power sources. Moreover, the radio station ”CITY 93,7 FM“ can be broadcast through the sirens.

The Rescue and Safety System was tested in the flood in 2002 and proved to be enormously helpful especially in communication and evacuation tasks. More than forty thousand people were evacuated in a calm and organized manner and with no loss of human life.

In order to ensure that the sirens were audible throughout the capital city of Prague during these floods, 94 electronic sirens were installed throughout the affected area.