If you’re wondering what’s with the numbers….well, here’s a question : Do you know what your local emergency number is? I reckon perhaps half of you don’t know or perhaps didn’t bother to find out right? I’ll be totally honest, when my Dad collapsed at home and I had to make that emergency call, I didn’t know what it was. Maybe I did but because of the panic, I forgot and my mind was a blank. My instinct made my fingers dial 911 all because of William Shatner’s 911 tv series back in the 90’s. Of course it didn’t go through and within a couple of minutes, I managed to get my head back on and dialed 999. Even so, it took the hospital such a long time to dispatch an ambulance.
That said, and please correct me if I’m wrong but back home, each department ie fire brigade, hospital and the police department each have their own direct emergency number. I’m not sure that the rational reason behind this is but I think it would be such a bugger to remember them in times of emergencies, you know? Why not just have one number like normal instead of 3? I say that there are 3 numbers because I vaguely recall seeing them in the annual phone books that we get from Telekom. Over here in Australia, I just found out from Ted that the emergency number is 000 and it took me over a year before I found out. It’s funny how we don’t realise how important this number is.
Why am I talking about emergency numbers? Well, I had this freaky dream last night. Sis and I had gone camping and she had gone to take a bath and the next thing I knew, I was in a motel room and this guy was running down the sidewalk screaming ‘bear! bear!’. So I peeked out and saw this HUGE bear running after him with sis in front of the guy!!! I SOOOOooooo panicked and quickly opened the door in time for her to rush in and I slammed the door shut. But the poor guy….the bear caught up with him and dragged him into the truck which was parked by the road side and was pretty much tearing him to pieces. I freaked out and ran to the phone to call for help and I dialed 999. You’d think that I’d get someone on the line asking what the problem was but all I got was…..
‘Nombor yang anda dial tiada dalam perkhidmatan kami….’*
in that monotonous male voice . *pengsan*
Thank god it was merely a dream but there is a lesson to be learned here - ALWAYS make sure you know what the emergency number is. You never know when you’ll need it!
*The number that you have dialed is not in service.
by pelf, on November 26 2007 @ 8:46 pm
The newspapers in Malaysia reported recently that all emergency numbers in Malaysia had been changed back to the original 999
So, no need to remember other numbers such as 991, 911, 994, LOL.
by aida, on November 27 2007 @ 5:57 am
ya lor, i saw in the star recently, only 999 is emergency number, nothing else.
by Irenemoi, on November 27 2007 @ 4:06 pm
Ya, I saw that too……
by wuching, on November 29 2007 @ 9:22 am
hehehe…don’t feel bad, so many ppl think its 911 also, blame it on american TV!
by picatho, on November 30 2007 @ 12:46 am
my wife, when asked for which emergency no. she could remember, has always answered 012xxx2658. Because she believes that by contacting me first, so as I can rush to the nearest police station - pay the ‘coffee’ fee in return for prompt reaction. This way would be faster to receive help rather than calling 999 and entering into Q&A session like entering into an Internet chat following by a football game quest that sometime you would catching no ball!
by Yvy, on November 30 2007 @ 5:07 pm
picatho : wah! that’s a new way of going for an emergency number but i think that only works in malaysia la.
wuching : hehehe….yup, lucky was only in my dreams leh.
pelf, aida, irene : o goody!! i didnt know abt that but it’s good news.