What do you do in an emergency in Bali?

Most trips here have no emergencies. The ones that do tend to involve a scooter, the sea or a stomach, and knowing the first three steps saves a lot of time.

The numbers

112 is the national emergency number in Indonesia and the one to remember. It reaches police, ambulance and fire.

Individual services also have their own numbers, and response times outside the southern towns can be slow. In practice, for a medical problem, getting to a clinic by car is often faster than waiting for an ambulance.

Your embassy or consulate. Australia, and several other countries, maintain consulates in Bali; most others are represented from Jakarta. Look up and save your country's Bali or Jakarta contact details before you travel.

Medical

BIMC Hospital has facilities in Kuta, Nusa Dua and Ubud, and Siloam Hospitals are in Denpasar and Nusa Dua. Both are private, international-standard, English-speaking and used to dealing with travel insurers.

Public hospitals, including Sanglah in Denpasar, handle serious trauma and are the destination for major emergencies.

Clinics in every tourist area handle dehydration, infections, stitches and the usual scooter grazes, usually 24 hours in the main areas.

For anything serious, expect to need evacuation to Singapore, Australia or home. That is what the medical evacuation clause in your insurance exists for.

After a scooter accident

1. Get off the road and check for injuries.

2. Photograph everything: the scene, both vehicles, any damage, and the other party's details if there is one.

3. Call your insurer before treatment where you can.

4. Go to a clinic, even for scrapes. Road rash in this climate infects readily.

5. Keep every receipt and get an itemised invoice.

If someone else is involved, the customary resolution here is a negotiated payment at the scene rather than a formal claims process. Stay calm, do not admit liability, and if the situation is at all serious, involve the police and your insurer rather than agreeing a figure on the roadside.

Lost or stolen passport

1. Report it to the police and get the written report. You need this for everything that follows.

2. Contact your embassy or consulate, in Bali or Jakarta. They issue emergency travel documents.

3. Expect it to take days, not hours, and to involve a trip to Jakarta for some nationalities.

4. Immigration formalities follow, because your entry permit was in the lost passport.

This is why a photograph of the passport page, stored in your email, matters: it speeds all of it up considerably.

Lost cards and money

Freeze the card in your banking app first, then call the bank. Keep a second card somewhere separate from the first, which is the habit that turns a crisis into an inconvenience.

Emergency cash transfers work through the usual international money transfer agents, which have branches across the south.

In the sea

If you are caught in a rip current: do not swim against it. Float, signal, then swim parallel to the shore until you are out of the channel. See rip currents and beach safety.

If someone else is in trouble: alert a lifeguard or surfers rather than swimming out yourself. Most drownings involving would-be rescuers involve people who went in unprepared.

Natural events

Earthquakes are common and usually minor. If you are on the coast and feel a strong one, move inland and uphill without waiting for an official warning.

Volcanic activity at Agung, Batur and, on Lombok, Rinjani, is monitored continuously, and exclusion zones are published and enforced. Airport closures for ash have happened before and will again, which is a cancellation-insurance question.

What to prepare before you fly

• Photographs of your passport, visa, insurance policy and vaccination records, stored offline and in your email.
• Your insurer's 24-hour emergency number saved in your phone.
• Your embassy's contact details.
• A second payment card, kept separately.
• The address of your accommodation written in Indonesian.