eCall offers safety in situations where the driver cannot call for help
There has recently been discussion in the news about automatic emergency call systems in vehicles. The Europe-wide eCall connects directly to the nearest emergency response centre and sends information directly to the centre's information system.
The missing children hotline improves safety across the EU
In the event that an underage child becomes missing, it is important to inform the responsible authorities quickly. For this purpose, assistance is available from a common European hotline. In Finland, the hotline can be used for sharing tips about missing children. In emergencies, the number to call is 112.
Emergency response centre operator awarded for outstanding performance
The European Emergency Number Association EENA awarded a Finnish emergency response centre operator for outstanding work in assisting a person that had fallen through the ice in the wilderness. Finland’s emergency response centres are built around the professionalism of ERC operators and cooperation between authorities, and the case demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach.
Smart devices and automatic emergency calls
New technology has been created to assist in situations where a person needs help but cannot summon it themselves. Dialogue between the authorities involved in emergency response centre operations as well as futher technical development is required to take advantage of the technology.
Medical helpline 116117 or emergency number 112 – which should I call?
Recently, there have been reports of long lines in health services and the role of the general medical helpline 116117. Here's what you should know about when to call the emergency number or the medical helpline.
112 Suomi mobile emergency application also available for use in other European countries

The 112 Suomi mobile application, which has over 1.8 million users, can now be used across Europe to get help in emergency situations. When people use the application to call the European emergency number 112, the caller’s location data is transmitted to the local emergency response centre.
The Emergency Response Centre Agency of Finland is part of the Pan-European Mobile Emergency Apps (PEMEA) project, organised by the European Emergency Number Association EENA. According to Emergency Traffic Specialist Dan Berlin from the Emergency Response Centre Agency, the project has created an architecture which will enable European emergency applications to operate across national borders. The PEMEA architecture will be introduced step by step in different countries. Finland is already on board in the first phase.
“With the help of the new architecture, emergency calls made in Europe using the 112 Suomi application will be directed to the local emergency response centre along with the caller’s exact location data. The local emergency response centre will be able to see if the caller’s location data comes from a foreign phone number. These features will start working once PEMEA has been adopted in the country.”
PEMEA is the architecture behind the application, so it is not actually visible to the app users. Users do not need to make any changes to the application’s settings. The most important thing is to recognise the emergency and make an emergency call using the 112 Suomi application.
“This improvement will certainly be a great relief to tourists as it can be difficult to communicate your location during an emergency in a foreign country. There is often a big language barrier between the caller and the emergency response centre operator, which makes it more difficult to determine the caller’s location. We are glad that now the Finnish emergency response centre operators will be able to tell if the call comes from another country’s emergency application,” Berlin says.
The 112 Suomi mobile application project was carried out in cooperation with Deveryware, core service provider for PEMEA. Digia Oyj, partner of the Emergency Response Centre Agency, took care of the app-related set-ups.