Check the Emergency Number for Your Destination Before You Travel.
What Happens When You Dial 911 While Overseas? Depending on where you are, he will either put you in touch with the local emergency response team or go unanswered, which is the last thing you need in a crisis.
Without the fear of sounding an overly caring parent, here’s a good safety tip from Smarter Travel : Before heading overseas, always find out the emergency numbers at your destination and add them to your phone contacts for safekeeping.
While dialing 911 can help you contact your local emergency office in some countries, this does not generally apply; Unlike the United States, some countries, such as Japan and Switzerland, also have separate numbers for situations where ambulances, firefighters or police are required.
If you are planning a trip, pay attention to the emergency numbers of these countries:
- Argentina: 101 ambulance and police personnel; 107 for fire.
- Australia : 000 for all emergencies (106 for people with speech or hearing impairment).
- Egypt: 123 ambulance; 180 for fire; 122 for the police.
- India: 102 ambulances; 101 for fire; 100 for the police (or 103 for traffic accidents).
- Japan: 119 ambulances and firefighters; 110 for the police.
- Jamaica: 110 ambulances and firefighters; 119 for the police.
- Kenya: 999 for all emergencies.
- Morocco: 15 ambulances and firefighters; 10 out of 19.
- New Zealand: 111 for all occasions.
- South Africa: 10,177 ambulances and firefighters; 10111 for the police. (The City of Cape Town also uses 107 for all emergencies.)
- Switzerland: 144 ambulances; 118 for fire; 117 for the police.
Fortunately, if you are visiting a country in the European Union, you probably only need to remember one number: 112 – you can dial it in an emergency from any landline or mobile phone. In some countries, 112 also operates in conjunction with their own nationwide emergency numbers; in Italy, for example, dialing 112 will take you to an operator who will transfer you to the local fire department or police number. Usually, when all else fails, dial 112 in the EU and they will connect you to the right side.
And yes, many countries do use 911 as their emergency contact number; These countries include the Bahamas, Brazil, the Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and a number of other countries. If you don’t see your destination above, take a look at the Department of State ‘s complete list of emergency numbers.
Don’t worry about dialing country codes if you have a phone with international roaming enabled; it should allow you to dial locally and without the country code prefix. If not, it doesn’t hurt to search for it online before you travel (or use the country code to find it).
Finally, you may be a little concerned about the language barrier when calling emergency services. As Smarter Travel recommends, when all else fails, call your local US embassy. Hopefully they’ll help ease the conversation, or they’ll call the emergency line on your behalf.