Riga calls for volunteers for evacuation drills on September 18-19
Riga City Council is inviting residents to sign up for voluntary, free evacuation drills taking place September 18-19 as part of national defense exercises. Participants will spend the night at a training evacuation center at Riga's Arkādija Secondary School.
Riga City Council is calling on residents to register for practical evacuation drills scheduled for September 18-19, held as part of a broader national defense training exercise. The municipality shared the information with the LETA news agency.
During the exercise, the Riga City Council's Civil Protection and Operational Information Department, working alongside several emergency services, will test how residents are gathered, transported, and received at an evacuation center, while also assessing cooperation between the involved institutions.
How the drill will unfold
Participants will gather on Friday, September 18, between 15:45 and 16:00 at Aleksandra Grīna Boulevard near Uzvaras Park. After registration, buses will take them to Riga's Arkādija Secondary School on Melnsila Street, where a training evacuation center will be set up. From 16:15, participants will take part in practical activities at the center and stay overnight. The exercise concludes Saturday, September 19, at 9:00, after which buses will return participants to Uzvaras Park.
Participation is voluntary and free of charge, with the municipality providing overnight supplies, meals, and drinking water. Registration is done through an online form, and families with children are encouraged to take part together, though each participant, including minors, must submit a separate registration form.
Purpose of the exercise
Riga Deputy Mayor Edvards Ratnieks noted that the current security situation requires residents to be prepared for scenarios where evacuation could become a real necessity. He stressed the importance of testing plans in practice, not just on paper. Such exercises help identify shortcomings, improve cooperation among services, and give residents a better understanding of how to act during a crisis.
The drill aims to test Riga's evacuation system as a whole — from gathering and transporting residents to a safe location, through registration, housing, and provision of basic needs at the evacuation center.
