Emergency numbers and help in Belize

The numbers

• 911 works nationally and the operators speak English, which removes the usual barrier.
• Response times outside the towns are long, and in some places there is effectively no ambulance service - the FCDO says so about the roads directly.

The call that actually matters

• Your insurer's 24-hour assistance line. If something serious happens, the decision is not which Belizean hospital but how fast you get to Miami, and the insurer arranges that.
• Have the policy number and the assistance number saved offline, not in an email you need signal to open.
• Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in Belize City is the main public hospital and the point of stabilisation before an evacuation.
• The hyperbaric chamber is on Ambergris Caye - relevant to every diver in the country.

If something goes wrong

• Report crime to the police and get the report for insurance, accepting that most cases are not investigated.
• Tourism Police operate in the main visitor towns and are the more useful first contact there.
• In a hurricane, follow the evacuation instruction. The cayes are a metre or two above sea level and the order to leave comes with limited notice.