Emergency hotline: CALL FIRST, HELP PEOPLE and SAVE LIVES

Image Credit: dailypostal.com

I just saw a video in social media who was in the immediate area of a person jumping from a higher floor inside a mall. It showed how the mall security personnel responded to the incident. What caught my attention was how the video taker was just providing commentary on what is transpiring. It dawned on me that people nowadays do not know what to do in an event of an emergency. Their initial instinct was to get their phone, take a video and then upload to social media (where in the right way might even get them some money).

My aim for this post is to spread awareness that there is an Emergency Hotline that can be called upon in case of an emergencies. The most popular is the 911 emergency hotline number. This is already in use in the progressive countries and with the constant improvement in the telecommunications space, more and more developing countries have already adopted their own single emergency hotline. The Philippines has adopted the same emergency hotline number (911) last 2016 which replaced the existing emergency hotline number (117) at that time.

Photo Credit: Philippine Information Agency

What happens when you call 911? Your call will be routed to one of the call centers and will connected to one of the responding agents. Listen carefully to the instructions and speak clearly. Depending on the information you provided the agent will dispatch the appropriate response team to respond to your emergency.

Photo Credit: astig.ph

When the 911 emergency hotline in the Philippines was initially launched, immediately some have already felt its quick response. However, it seems that the availability of this facility is not ingrained to the minds of the public. It would be nice to have a TV show like the old Rescue 911 tv series in late 80's and early 90's. Though similar TV shows are available with Red Alert or Alisto that helps in public safety and preparedness, they do not yet provide emphasis on using the emergency number hotline (they may have probably shot an episode about the emergency hotline but I could not verify as of writing this post).

Seeing that we already have the facility, why are we not using it in an emergency situation?

Here is a challenged to the public

- When you witness an emergency, CALL 911 FIRST!!!

- If you think the video you are taking can be useful to the Emergency Response Team or Police, ask someone to call 911

I do hope with this simple post the emergency hotline number with gain more awareness and start using them in emergency situations.

For additional emergency hotlines in the Philippines, please click the link below:

http://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/emergency-hotlines/