Field guide · 2025
Emergency numbers in Vietnam: who to call and what to say
Emergency numbers in Vietnam are three separate numbers, not one. Call 113 for the police, 114 for the fire service and 115 for an ambulance. Save all three in your phone before you need them.
Both the United States and Australian governments list these same numbers in their travel advice for Vietnam. They also give a warning that matters just as much: the lines may not be easy to use if you do not speak Vietnamese. This guide covers who to call, what to say and what to do when the call does not go well.
The three numbers
Vietnam does not use one number such as 911 or 999. Each service has its own line.
Police: 113. Fire brigade: 114. Ambulance and medical emergencies: 115. The U.S. State Department lists the three in exactly this order on its Vietnam page. The Australian Smartraveller site gives the same three numbers.
The State Department also calls 113 the local equivalent of an emergency line for crime victims. If you are not sure which service you need, and someone is in danger, 113 is the one the U.S. page points to for crimes.
These numbers are for Vietnam only. If your phone has a local SIM card, you can dial them like any other short number. Check that you have credit or a working plan, because a phone with no signal or no service cannot place the call.
Sources: U.S. Department of State, Vietnam country information page; Australian Government Smartraveller, Vietnam advice.
What to tell the operator
An operator can only help if they know where you are. Start with the place, then the problem.
Give the street name and house number, or the name of the hotel, hospital, shop or building. A nearby landmark helps. If you are on a highway or a rural road, name the nearest town and the direction you were traveling.
Then say what happened in one short sentence. For example: there is a fire, there was a motorbike crash, or someone is not breathing. Say how many people are hurt. Say whether anyone is trapped.
Give your phone number and stay on the line. Do not hang up until the operator ends the call. Keep your phone free in case they ring you back.
Speak slowly. Use short words and say numbers one digit at a time. If you can, write the address down in Vietnamese before you call.
Sources: general practice; the phone numbers themselves are from the U.S. State Department and Smartraveller pages named above.
Language limits to expect
The Australian government says emergency numbers in Vietnam are operated in Vietnamese only. It adds that they may be unreliable and that you may face a long wait before help arrives.
That is a frank warning, and it is worth taking seriously. Do not assume an English speaker will pick up. Plan for a call that happens in Vietnamese.
The easiest fix is to hand the phone to someone who speaks Vietnamese. That could be hotel staff, a neighbor, a landlord, a driver or a shop owner. Ask them to make the call or to speak for you. Tell them the three facts first: where, what happened, how many people.
Translation apps can help with a short message, but a noisy scene and a weak signal make them hard to rely on. A written note in Vietnamese is more dependable than a live translation.
Sources: Australian Government Smartraveller, Vietnam advice, page archived 9 September 2025.
Reporting a crime
If you are the victim of a crime, call 113. The U.S. State Department says local police will take a report. It also warns that police generally only open an investigation for crimes they judge serious, and that this does not always match standards you may know from home.
Smartraveller advises that you always get a police report when you report a crime. A police report is the record of what happened.
Australian advice is to take a translator with you when you report a crime to the local police. It also says cases reported by foreigners may be accepted at the discretion of local police.
If the matter is urgent, call 113 first. Then contact your embassy or consulate. The U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City listed 028-3520-4200 for calls from within Vietnam on the State Department page in November 2025. Other embassies publish their own lines on their travel pages.
Sources: U.S. Department of State, Vietnam country information page; Australian Government Smartraveller, Vietnam advice.
A simple plan before you travel or move
Do the preparation now, while nothing is wrong.
First, save 113, 114 and 115 in your phone under clear names, such as Police VN, Fire VN and Ambulance VN. Second, write down your home address in Vietnamese and keep it in your wallet and your phone notes. Third, ask your landlord or hotel who in the building speaks Vietnamese and can help at night.
Fourth, know the name and address of the nearest hospital. In an emergency, you may be able to reach care faster by asking a driver or a neighbor to take you than by waiting on a line that may be busy. That is a judgment call, and it depends on the situation.
Fifth, buy travel or health insurance and keep the policy number and the insurer's emergency line where you can find them. Smartraveller says your insurer should have a 24-hour emergency number.
Last, tell a friend or family member where you are living or staying. If you cannot make the call yourself, someone else will know where to send help.
Sources: general planning guidance; emergency numbers and warnings from the U.S. State Department and Smartraveller pages named above.
Sources
- U.S. Department of State, Vietnam country information page (archived 19 November 2025): travel.state.gov
- Australian Government, Smartraveller: Vietnam travel advice (archived 9 September 2025): smartraveller.gov.au