PBH / colombia (travelguide, pictures) / post

911 or 119

I was reading an elmo message and saw that he mentioned 911. And I remembered that not too long I saw a car on the street backing up. I thought, 'wow pedestrians get a lot of respect in Bogota.' Then I saw a motorcycle slam into the front of the car. The guy flew maybe 20 meters and though the guy did hit an suv going what seemed like 40 he was going to survive thanks to the way he crashed. Anyhow, my first reaction was to call 911 and I was like 'damn, I don't know where I am and I don't even know the number to 911.' I handed the phone to someone stading next to me and all was fine. I later asked someone the number for 911 and she looked at me like an idiot and told me it was international. Today I found this http://www.sccfd.org/travel.html which states it is 119, my parents told me it was something like 411 or 911 but they said they never used it. I suppose it's 911 but I am not sure...

By dtapia on Jan 6, 2006, 18:55 in Friendly Talkzone.

haji says on Jan 7, 2006, 09:09:

thats good to know I didnt know there was a number,but to be honest their ambulance service here sucks from what i"ve seen.First people dont move for them so ,by the time it takes for someone to get there is better to flag a cab.although that will also risk the persons well being.After seeing how the emts handle the victims it really doesent seem to matter.Case in point--saw a man shot no one helped not even police,however the police did shoot the man, who shot the other then rode off on his motorcycle.Ambulance was called but ,instead of waiting person who was shot was thrown into cab--I have seen it more than once
Colombia does need to work on this --just my opinion

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thur says on Jan 8, 2006, 03:01:

Check... ... out this: http://www.sire.gov.co/websire/directorio/telemergen.htm
Now, why Codensa or Gas Natural is on there, I don't know. Perhaps for when there's burst in one of their pipelines. So in case of an accident, 125 and 112.
Greetings,

- www.pbase.com/thur

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dwmte says on Jan 8, 2006, 04:08:

hadji... when i had my bar in llano grande, the finca owner next to my property shot and killed his majordomo. when the military (rural police services)arrived--of course they knew each other--they asked the land owner what happened..."...the son of a bitch insulted me." replied the finca owner. "...well we can't be havin that, now can we?" was the police's response. they asked for a couple of beers, sat and talked for a while then they left. no investigation, end of story. the body just lay there in the street, the main road between rio negro and don diego. it lay there until the family claimed it about 7 or 8 pm. justice can be a bit wierd in colombia.

i saw a couple of shootings in medellin and the police response was similar there. all i can say is i'm glad i wasn't the target in these apparently random shootings. as far as i know, you might as well call ghostbusters for all the responce that takes place.

dw

ps i remember a funny line from a film--maybe it was cheech and chong--when one asks the other, "....what's the number for 911?"

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