What to Do During a Massive Crowd Crush

The Halloween crowd surge in Itaewon killed more than a hundred young people. It's a shocking incident, and people wonder how exactly it happened, and what could have been done better for its prevention. Many South Koreans blamed the downright lack of crowd control, which led to a tragic stampede involving mostly young people in their teens and 20s.

If you were in that situation, what would you do to survive the suffocation that comes from being stuck in a high-density crowd? In this article, we tackle some crowd safety tips to survive a crowd crush.

Tips on What to do During Crowd Crush

Before South Korea, Indonesia also underwent national mourning after more than a hundred individuals died at a stampede inside a football stadium. The tragedy happened after disappointed fans ran onto the pitch when their team suffered an unprecedented home-court loss, and cops responded to the frenzy by firing tear gas, triggering a massive crowd to escape the stadium. Authorities noticed that all the exits were too narrow to accommodate hundreds of fleeing sports fans, hence the tragic deaths.

These crowd surges involving sports fans in Indonesia and Itaewon's Halloween tragedy this 2022 in South Korea were crushing proof of how dangerous and deadly such incidents are, and how important crowd control is, which is every organizer's inexcusably difficult job.

But, what about the people in the crowded event themselves? What do they need to do in case crowd control was not properly implemented? Let's talk about crowd density before and during an actual stampede even transpires with some safety tips below.

Be alert about your surroundings.

This is before any incident could happen. If you arrived late and crowds already look overwhelming, it's a sign that proceeding to join the event is dangerous already. Do not underestimate the danger that overcrowding may cause. Even a routine overloading of commuters in MRT is exhausting, stressful, and especially dangerous for senior citizens and PWDs. What more in an influx of attendees of an event without a clear organizer to manage the coming and exiting of people.

It's safer to just leave.

The event you are attending is something that you certainly have anticipated. You waited for it the entire year, invited your friends, dressed for it, and saved up money to spend for the occasion. But no matter what, your safety must be a top priority. It's better to leave at this point and find merriment elsewhere. It's a tough decision to make, but it has to be made for your own safety. While people mourn the deaths in South Korea, we must learn a lesson without invalidating their grief.

Remain upright.

But then again, when you are already caught up in that situation where a crowd rushes forward in the same direction, stay calm and remain standing. If something you're holding falls down, even if that means your cellphone or wallet, don't attempt to pick it up. If you sit down, it would be difficult to stand back up and you will risk being stepped on, injured, and worse, killed.

Oxygenate by leaving space around your chest.

Being in a massive crowd shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow attendees is suffocating, so be sure to oxygenate by leaving enough space around your chest as much as you can. If you still have your face mask on, remove it, and then lift your head up to breathe some air. This is survival of the fittest, and it's best to stay alert and look for ways to cope rather than be in panic mode.

Refrain from pushing, go with the flow.

The case of crowd crushes is beyond individual control, according to a crowd safety expert. Screaming for help could be futile since the massive crowd would not hear you as it is already creating its own collective cacophony of noise. Screaming would only exacerbate your difficulty of breathing. And the advice of refraining from pushing applies especially to people in the middle as well as in the back. Forcibly pushing yourself in an uncontrollable crowd would be an imminent disaster, causing a domino effect of people falling.

Avoid walls and solid materials.

Most of the time, the casualties of crowd surges are those who are situated near the walls where people fall and suffer injuries. If you're in the middle of a crowd, you are less likely to suffer injuries if you go with the flow and not resist the pressure that comes from being forcibly shoved from the back. The walls are a killer, so avoid these walls and solid objects as much as you can.

Learn to know the signs.

According to a crowd safety expert, if the crowd density rises above four people per square meter, and most notably if it went up to six, the greater the risks of an accident caused by high-density crowds. If it rises up to eight people per square meter, injuries and deaths become highly likely. It's important to know the science behind crowd management, especially for upcoming events that you will attend and you expect to be jam-packed with people.

Look out for others.

When we say look out for others, this does not mean sacrificing yourself in service of your fellows. Looking out for others means shared empathy. This would make other people look out for others as well, and in the process be alert and careful not to make any unnecessary movements and maneuvers that will only exacerbate the situation. In the absence of authorities to manage crowd control, there's no one to depend on but each other in the crowd.

Avoid Crowds and Spend your Holidays at Your Lumina Homes

Lumina Homes, the trusted housing arm of Vista Land, holds 50 key housing developments from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao, all of which are strategically located and accessible for every homeowner's comfort and convenience.

Lumina Homes understands that the homebuying decisions of aspiring property owners largely depend on location essentials, such as its conduciveness to a relaxing atmosphere where homeowners will not find themselves trapped in overly crowded and suffocating locations. This upcoming holidays hence, it is best to spend it with the family at your Lumina home, where you could catch up with the family and long-time-no-see relatives crowd-free.

Finally, for those planning to invest their hard-earned money in an affordable house and lot for sale, Lumina Homes complements affordability with quality in its housing provisions. Lumina Homes is also awarded a distinction by Pag-IBIG as a top housing developer providing an affordable house and lot with perks and amenities. Start your real estate investment with us and own a Lumina house and lot in the Philippines today!