Planning a trip during this holiday season? Do not forget these emergency numbers, tips

The New Year holiday season is the time when most people choose to enjoy a relaxing trip to their favourite destinations. Meanwhile, it would be wise to note the numbers of essential services to be contacted in emergencies when you are travelling. Dial 112 if you require immediate help from the police. This service can be availed by pressing the power button on your smartphone three times in a row. Meanwhile, you need to press 5 or 9 for a while on regular mobile phones for these services. Besides, police (100), fire force (101), ambulance (108), and women’s helpline (1090) are among the emergency helpline numbers. 

The number 112 was developed to bring together all essential services under a single number. The command centre that operates 24/7 at the police headquarters is the 112 control room. The call will connect to the control room in Thiruvananthapuram if you dial 112 from anywhere in Kerala. The officials would quickly collect the necessary information and alert the nearby police station or patrol vehicle. The control room can locate every police vehicle using GPS technology. The message will be passed to the tab that is installed in the police vehicles. 

The police officers who receive the message will rush to the spot or the person who has requested help. Similar messages would be sent to the district control rooms, too. 112 could be dialled even from phones that do not have an outgoing facility or are temporarily disabled. Moreover, this facility is available both on mobile phones and landlines. Besides, the 112 service can be availed via the SOS button in the POL app, the official mobile app of the Kerala Police. 

A few other tips
Posting pictures of family trips on social media may be an invitation to robbers, who would quickly assume no one is at home. Report to the nearest police station that you won't be at home for a few days. The police would then send patrol units to the area where your house is located and keep an eye on it. You could use the ‘locked house’ facility in the official mobile app of the Kerala police. 

• Notify the milk and newspaper suppliers before you leave for the trip. It would be easy for robbers to identify locked houses if milk, newspapers, or letters are found lying unopened in front of the house. Besides, the gate shouldn’t be closed in a way that shows the padlock is visible from the outside. 
• Do not keep the lights outside the house on at all times. You could either request your neighbours or relatives to switch on the lights at night or use sensor lights. 

•Do not keep gold or money in locked houses. 
•The back door of the house should be sturdier. Do not keep iron rods, machetes or other materials that robbers may use to break into the house outside. 
•Fix lights around the house to get proper lighting at night.