Emergencies abroad: what to do, who to call.

Emergency numbers — save these the day you land

Put your country's number in your phone's favorites before you need it. On most mobile networks worldwide, 112 also routes to emergency services.

• USA & Canada: 911 (police, fire, ambulance)
• UK & Ireland: 999 or 112
• Australia: 000
• New Zealand: 111
• Germany, France, Netherlands: 112 (France also uses 15 medical, 17 police, 18 fire)
• Singapore: 999 (police), 995 (ambulance/fire)
• India (for family reference): 112 — the single national emergency number

The order of calls — the 5-step protocol

Whatever the incident, the sequence is the same:

1. Safety first — call local emergency. 911 / 999 / 112 / 000 / 111. If you're unsure whether it "counts" as an emergency, call anyway — that's what the number is for.
2. Document everything. Photos, names, badge numbers, the police report number, receipts. You will need this for insurance claims, the embassy, and any reissue of documents. Do it while it's fresh.
3. Embassy / consulate. Indian Embassy Washington DC 24x7 helpline: +1 202.550.9931. For your country, find your nearest Indian mission at indianembassyusa.gov.in (US) or via MADAD — the MEA's distress grievance portal.
4. University. Your international student office and campus police (most US campuses have 24/7 campus police — save that number separately). Universities have dealt with every version of your problem before.
5. Insurance. Your student health/travel insurer's emergency line — it's on your policy card. Call before big medical bills, not after.

And the zeroth step, done before you fly: agree a family emergency plan — who calls home, in what order, and who holds copies of your documents. Panic is what happens when nobody agreed the plan in advance.

Incident playbooks

Passport lost or stolen abroad

• File a police report immediately — you need the report number for everything after.
• Contact the nearest Indian mission for an Emergency Certificate (one-way travel document) or a full reissue. In the US this goes through the mission's consular service centres.
• This is why you kept digital copies (passport, visa, I-20/admission letter) in the cloud and DigiLocker before flying — they make reissue dramatically faster.

Arrested or detained

• You have the right to consular access — ask the police to notify the Indian embassy. This is a right under international law, not a favor.
• Don't sign anything you don't fully understand. Ask for a lawyer; say you want to contact your embassy.
• Inform the embassy yourself as well, and tell your university's international office. What the embassy can't do: get you released, pay fines, or override local law. What it can do: visit you, contact your family, and give you a list of local lawyers.

Medical emergency

• Call local emergency first. Then your insurer's emergency line — many policies require pre-authorization for hospitalization.
• Keep every bill and discharge summary; claims live or die on paperwork.
• Know where your university's student health center is before you're sick — it's usually the cheapest care you'll get.

Sexual assault

• Get to safety first. What happens next is your decision — including whether to involve police.
• US: RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline — 1-800-656-4673, free, confidential, 24/7 (call, chat, or text "HOPE" to 64673).
• US universities have a Title IX office — it must act on reports and can arrange academic/housing accommodations regardless of any police case.
• A medical forensic exam (by a SANE nurse) preserves evidence and options even if you're undecided about reporting — sooner is better for evidence.

Hate crime or targeted harassment

• Report to local police — get the report number. In the US you can also contact the local FBI field office.
• Document everything: screenshots, dates, witnesses. Tell your university's bias-response or student-affairs team.
• If you feel unsafe on an ongoing basis, tell the Indian mission — tracking patterns is part of their job.

Robbery or theft

• Police report first — insurers require it for any claim.
• Block cards immediately via your bank's app; most Indian banks let you hot-block from abroad.
• If documents were taken, follow the lost-passport playbook above.

Natural disaster

• Follow local authorities' instructions — they outrank every other advice on this page.
• Contact the Indian mission once safe; embassies actively track citizens during disasters and run evacuations when needed.
• Check in with family on the agreed channel so they don't learn about it from the news first.

Scammed — by an agent, landlord, or "university"

• Stop paying immediately. Preserve every message, receipt, and contract.
• US: report immigration fraud via USCIS's anti-scam page and general fraud at reportfraud.ftc.gov. India: file on the National Consumer Helpline.
• Verify the institution itself: US accreditation database, SEVP-certified school search, or Canada's DLI list.

Before you fly — the 30-minute emergency prep

1. Save in your phone: your country's emergency number, the Indian mission helpline, campus police, your insurer's emergency line, and two ICE (in-case-of-emergency) contacts.
2. Digital copies: passport, visa, I-20/admission letter, insurance policy — in cloud storage and DigiLocker. Share access with one family member.
3. Family packet: your address abroad, university + international office contacts, roommate's number, insurance details, and the agreed "who calls whom" order.
4. Register on arrival: with the Indian mission (the Embassy's Student Hub posts advisories) — it matters most exactly when things go wrong at scale.

Mental health is an emergency too

Isolation, academic pressure, money stress, racism — studying abroad stacks them. Getting help is maintenance, not weakness.

• US: call or text 988 — the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, free and confidential, 24/7. 988lifeline.org
• India: Vandrevala Foundation — free all-India emergency mental-health helpline, 24/7.
• Your campus: university counseling centers are usually free for enrolled students and bound by confidentiality. Use them before a bad month becomes a bad semester.