The recent tragedy in Seoul, South Korea, where over 150 were dead in a crowd surge hits home, and hard. Crowd surge fatalities are not foreign to us. In this city where space is at an absolute premium, these pose humongous dangers as our history shows us
Rescue workers and firefighters try to help injured people near the scene in Seoul, South Korea. Pic/PTI
It is rare that this edit space has a take on international events, but there are takeaways from events beyond borders too. We live in a global village where the cyber superhighway has shrunk distances, communication is at the speed of light and occurrences everywhere touch our lives, sometimes in very direct ways.
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The recent tragedy in Seoul, South Korea, where over 150 were dead in a crowd surge hits home, and hard. Crowd surge fatalities are not foreign to us. In this city where space is at an absolute premium, these pose humongous dangers as our history shows us.
In Seoul, people rushed into a narrow alleyway, since they were out to celebrate at Halloween parties. COVID-19 restrictions had fallen away, and many young people wanted to party with more gusto than usual. When the crush became overwhelming, there was panic. A stampede and tragedy ensued, with people suffocating as they fell over each other.
Seoul may be many miles away, the lessons are not. Let us not deliberately crowd into entrances and exits here too. Even if there are a significant number of people, orderly queues and disciplined moving along can mean avoiding any mayhem. Do not cause panic by spreading rumours or shouting out thoughtless messages that can send crowds careening out of control. Careful utterance and action, nothing untoward that would ignite a potentially dangerous situation as there is a thin line between fraught and fatal.
If possible, overcrowded and narrow spaces need to be avoided. If your intuition tells you that crowds are swelling and you may have a problem on hand, try to exit as soon as possible. This may not be possible all the time, but if you have the option, do exercise it.
Lastly, make way for responders who rush in to provide first aid. How many times have we read, heard about or witnessed crowd surge tragedies? This calls for some Seoul searching.
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