Police departments all over China will take three years to unify various emergency phone numbers into one to make it much easier for people in danger to get help, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

China, for a long time, has set the phone number "110" for reports on criminal cases, "119" for fires and "122" for traffic accidents, Wednesday's China Youth Daily reported.

But it proved to be a bother for people to tell the different functions of the three different numbers, especially when they were in an emergency or even in danger, said Wang Jikun, an official with the ministry.

"In each city, we have different working staff and facilities arranged for the three numbers, which has caused great waste of efforts and resources. The different work teams usually don't share information and lack cooperation," Wang said.

The ministry has decided to use "110" as the sole number for various emergency calls and ordered local police departments to set up a unified team to work for it, he said.

Zhengzhou city, central China's Henan province, is the country's first city to finish unifying the numbers for emergency calls. All the 97 counties and cities in north China's Shanxi province have also fulfilled the task.

(Xinhua News Agency April 1, 2004)