Emergency 112

We’ve all seen American movies where someone dials 911 in an emergency and an operator answers to send help. This number is for America only. Other countries have different emergency numbers, for example:

In South Africa, the emergency number is 10111

In the United Kingdom, the emergency number is 999

In Australia, the emergency number is 000

However, there is one number that will work in any country and that number is 112. You can dial this number from any mobile device and it will automatically connect to the emergency services (police and ambulance) wherever you are. It is really important that you teach your children this number. In fact, we recommend that you add this number to all the phones in your home under the speed dial menu so that it is very easy for someone to call for help.

112 works even if you have no airtime or no sim card inside the phone! If the network is busy and you dial 112, it will actually bump a call off to prioritise your emergency call.

When we teach this number to children we use the phrase “1 plus 1 is 2” so it is very easy to remember 112.