Civil Protection in Poland vs. Positive Prepping

The article analyzes the relationship between the state's extensive institutional structure and actual operational capacity in the face of flooding. The author contrasts the concept of Positive Prepping with the Polish model of civil protection, highlighting the difference between having procedures and their effective implementation under time pressure. The multi-layered nature of the system is discussed—from the Floods Directive and crisis management to specialized rescue services. A key point is the so-called epistemic scale advantage, namely the state's informational advantage over the individual, which does not always translate into a useful message for the citizen. The text emphasizes the transition from fighting water to modern risk management in the spirit of socio-hydrology and resilience engineering, where the river is treated as an element of a socio-ecological system.