The NFA plans to distribute 119 service handouts made in English, Chinese, Japanese and Thai at 11 information centers operated by the Seoul Tourism Association. (image: Jeonnam Fire Service)
SEOUL, Jul. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — The National Fire Agency (NFA) said Tuesday that it will strengthen its manual of response to 119 calls from foreigners living in South Korea.
The NFA reported that recently, 119 calls in foreign languages are increasing rapidly. The number of foreign language reports rose 75 percent from 1,385 in 2015 to 2,430 in 2017.
When a 119 call in foreign language is reported, agents who can speak a foreign language will respond directly or operate a three-way call system that connects with an interpreter.
The number of foreign casualties in a fire in 2018 was four, or 1.08 percent, of the total 369 fire deaths.
Furthermore, 21,304 foreign patients, or 1.13 percent, of the total 1,879,725 patients, requested an ambulance via 119.
The NFA plans to distribute 119 service handouts made in English, Chinese, Japanese and Thai at 11 information centers operated by the Seoul Tourism Association.
In the future, the agency plans to make handouts in Mongolian, Vietnamese and Russian and promote them through YouTube and Facebook.
“Given the fact that emergency call numbers in countries around the world are not the same and fire service contents are different, the 119 service may be improperly used when needed by foreigners”, the NFA said.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
