Norway Emergency Guide: Alerts and Numbers

Emergency Preparedness in Norway

Norway asks everyone who lives in the country to be able to manage on their own for at least one week. The official advice is detailed and practical, but most of it is published in Norwegian. This page explains the system in English for residents, students, workers and visitors: who to call, how you will be warned, what the authorities expect you to have at home, and where to find official information.

Emergency numbers

110 Fire
112 Police
113 Ambulance and medical emergency
116 117 Out-of-hours medical service (legevakt), when it is urgent but not life-threatening
02800 Police, non-urgent

112 also works from foreign phones and connects you to the police, who can transfer you.

How you will be warned

Nødvarsel: alerts on your mobile phone

Nødvarsel (Emergency Alert) is sent through the mobile network to all phones in a defined area when there is an acute threat to life and health.
You do not sign up, install an app or register your number. Visitors with foreign phones can receive it too.
The phone vibrates and plays a loud siren-like sound, even on silent. It needs a reasonably new phone with updated software, connected to 4G or 5G.
Active alerts and planned tests are published on the official Nødvarsel website, which has an English version.

Sirens

The Civil Defence (Sivilforsvaret) has sirens in towns, cities and larger populated areas, but not everywhere.
The main signal means "Important message, seek information" (Viktig melding, søk informasjon): three series of siren sound with pauses between them.
When you hear it outside a test, look for official information from NRK, the police, your municipality or the government. Do not evacuate on the sound alone.
Other signals exist for danger of attack and for danger over.

Tests

Sirens are tested twice a year, at 12:00 on the second Wednesday of January and of June. Nødvarsel on mobile phones is normally tested at the same time.

What the authorities ask you to have at home

The Norwegian Directorate for Civil Protection (DSB) tightened its advice in 2024: households should be able to manage for at least one week without power, water, internet, shops and medicines.

Water: 20 litres of drinking water per person, in cans or bottles
Food: food that keeps at room temperature, and food and water for pets
Cooking: a grill, cooking stove or camping stove, with extra gas or fuel
Heat: warm clothes, blankets, duvets or sleeping bags, firewood if you have a stove, or a gas or paraffin heater approved for indoor use, and an agreement about where you can stay if your home gets too cold
Light: matches and candles, and flashlights or headlamps that run on batteries, crank or solar power
Information: a DAB radio that runs on batteries, crank or solar power, spare batteries, a charged power bank, and important phone numbers on paper
Money: some cash and more than one payment card
Health: medicines and a first aid kit, and hygiene items such as wet wipes, hand sanitiser, nappies, toilet paper and sanitary products
Iodine tablets: for children, adults under 40, pregnant women and breastfeeding women. Take them only after a nuclear incident and only when the authorities say so.

Work out the amounts for your household with our kit calculator and see the home kit for 7 days.

Shelters

Norway has public shelters (offentlige tilfluktsrom), open to anyone nearby, and private shelters that belong to a building such as a school, office or housing cooperative.
DSB publishes a map of public shelters with addresses and capacity.
In many crises, staying at home is the safest option. If there is no shelter near you, a basement or an inner room without windows gives the best protection.
See our article Where are the public shelters in Norway?