The flow of information about the actions required in emergency situations: Issues in urban areas in Poland

The emergency management process involves a number of entities-the public authorities, NGOs, business, society and many others. These entities have specific knowledge and skills; they implement the tasks under varying conditions, and based on cooperation and information obtained from various sources. Therefore the basis of crisis management is the flow of information. The operating principles, evaluation, and basic problems of this process in urban areas in Poland will be presented in the paper. Analyses will be conducted based on a literature review and results of research carried out in units of the State Fire Service in the Silesian Region in Poland.