Helpful survival tips for travel emergencies

Travelling should be fun and safe. However, no journey is entirely 100 percent risk-free. Unplanned occurrences like a terrorist attack, robbery incidents, plane crashes and shooting or natural disaster can happen without forewarning.

If you are ever caught in a frightful situation, what will you do? Jovago.com, Africa’s No1 Online Hotel Booking Portal offers some skills on how you can survive during emergency especially when you are travelling.

Call emergency number

This should be the first thing you do in any emergency; which is why everyone should have the number of the official rapid response team on speed dial. It may come handy one day.

In Nigeria, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) headquartered in Abuja with state branches nationwide can be reached via 0800callNEMA. Other emergency numbers are Fire service 244, Lagos state emergency number-767 amongst others.  They will respond as soon as possible.

Stay away from the crowd

This is very important when a bomb blast occurs. This is because the likelihood of another bomb going off nearby is high. Thus, try to keep a respectable distance from the crowd and dial emergency numbers.

Offer to Help

Helping others during a plane crash or accident may offer you some kind of comfort. But, make sure that you are not harmed before you start helping.

If you have got some first aid skills, offering that service during emergencies can be helpful as it may save the life of another person before paramedics arrive.

Pretend to be dead

Playing dead has saved the lives of many people during a shooting spree. In the event of any shooting or robbery, if you can, smear the blood of an injured person on your face and other parts of your body and play dead. It is quite a distasteful thing to do but you have to survive. However, be careful not to get noticed.

Don’t patronize the shooter

This is where your heroic dreams need to take a back seat. Don’t be a hero. Don’t try to talk to the shooter or make attempt to wrestle his weapon from him. This may just go awry. It is advisable to wait for the police to arrive and handle the situation with their expertise. If you do this, you are risking your life and the others.

Find somewhere to lay low

Search for a safe place to stay during the stand-off and lay low until succour comes. The rule of thumb is “Don’t leave your position until you are sure it is safe.”