Saturday 12 January 2013

112 Emergency mobile number

We hope it never happens, but there may come a time when you are out in the middle of nowhere and you are unfortunate enough to need the emergency services. You've fallen and hurt yourself, got lost, or one of the many possible scenarios. How would you go about contacting the emergency services. Most people in the UK should be aware of 999, for the USA, 911, etc.

 
But about if you are in another country. You've gone on you're lifetime dream trek in Austria, or like many of us do, a trek around Norway etc. The answer is to remember one number, 112. 112 is an international mobile phone number with coverage in around 70 countries. Dialling 112 in what ever country will put you through to that countries emergency services. It works regardless of what network is available. So if your network is busy, or unavailable, your phone will roam to find another available network. 112 also takes priority on network availability so will put you to the top of the queue. The only downside is that there must be a network available.

A better alternative might be to try sending a text. Again, using the number 112 will give you access to whatever network is available and since text messages are only small data packets, getting a text out might be more successful.

If you want to use 112 to text messages to the emergency services then you need to register your phone. It's really simple. Text the word 'register' to 112. You will get a text back with instructions to follow and register your phone. I won't go into the details of the rest of the procedure as it will be slightly different for each country. But it is very simple to do.

Below is a list of countries and regions that support the use of 112. I will emphasise that as far as I am aware,  the use of the number is for mobile phones only. I would also advise an internet search to check out the service level available in what ever country you may need to use the number in, as they do vary.

Ă…land
Algeria
Andorra
Australia
Austria Belarus
Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina
Brazil
Bulgaria
Canada
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Faroe Islands
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Gibraltar
Georgia
Greece
Greenland
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Kazakhstan
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macau
Macedonia
Malta
Malaysia
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Pakistan
Poland
Portugal Romania
Russia
Rwanda
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sweden Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom
United States
Vanuatu
Vatican City
Zimbabwe

6 comments:

  1. Nice one, it's definitely worth a couple of text messages for some extra safety.

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  2. The 112 number is the single European emergency call number and will connect you with the emergency services within every one of the 27 member countries of the European Union as well as some other countries like Norway, Iceland etc. More information is available through the European Emergency Number Association (EENA) and the 112 Foundation.

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  3. Thanks for posting the links. I think it's important for people to be aware of this emergency number.

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  4. Great infos Marc! I have one mobile device in particular, Just5 a disaster ready phone with its key features like one touch Emergency Response button for SOS call with 5 pre-listed numbers for ICE. I am just wondering if the 112 emergency numbers will work with the same SOS function.

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  5. Thanks for the comment. Not sure I can help.

    ReplyDelete