www.businessinsider.com: Crowd surging — the deadly phenomenon that claimed more than 150 lives in South Korea — is explained by simple physics, an expert told Insider.
At least 154 people died in Seoul on Saturday when a Halloween street party caused a crowd so dense it crushed people to death.
4 comments:
It is disturbing to hear about all of the instances of crowd surging that has killed a large number of people throughout the world. I just recently heard about the incident in Seoul and was terrified to find out that 154 people lost their lives. I have never been a fan of large crowds because of this phenomenon, and am very careful anytime I find myself in a large crowd. This article was enlightening as it helped me understand what crowd surging does and how effective it is at killing people. The idea that a group of people can become like a liquid is interesting and terrifying, especially if you're at a concert in some place that has a lot of people. I am surprised that this has not happened before in Seoul, because it seems as though this is a street that is oftentimes very crowded and busy, especially on holidays. I am saddened by this news, and am hopeful that Seoul will do something to ensure that something like this doesn’t ever happen again.
I am really glad that this topic was published to be talked about, because it is such an important topic to discuss. When talking about theatre, the importance of spatial density is a big discussion in scenic design, and it is ever-prevalent when it comes to the tragedy that happened this week in Itaewon. I had never really heard of crowd surges before this event happened; I have always had social anxiety, especially in crowds, so the fact that a highly densely populated area can be fatal is terrifying. With what happened, I find that, more than ever, it is important to teach about the dangers of massive crowds, and how to actively avoid them. Obviously there are cases where one may want to be in a highly populated area, like at concerts or other large gatherings, so rather than teaching to avoid making large crowds in general, it may be better to teach about building densities and the importance of not going over a rooms capacity size.
I think we as a society have reached a point where we have to know about crowd surging. I remember when the Travis Scott Concert caused 8 deaths, and so many people were outraged and upset because something like that shouldn’t have happened. But 8 deaths compared to 154 deaths is so much more. This raises the thought, who can be in charge of making sure there aren’t too large of crowds? And, how can a venue be prepared when a crowd is bigger than what it was estimated to be? It’s important for the entertainment industry to think about this so another event like the Travis Scott Concert doesn’t happen again. I think it’s also important for cities and public planners to have knowledge about these kinds of things too, because in the case of this event in South Korea, this would fall under the city.
I remember when I was a kid and I wanted to go to the state fair, my mom and dad would always try to talk me out of it because of all of the crowds. With covid, it definitely got worse but at some point they dropped believing in covid and didn’t care as much. It’s an immense tragedy that these people had do die on Halloween and so many of them no less. It was such a National tragedy that the entire country mourned their fallen fellow citizens and it was kind of hard to watch all of them cry like that. No one should ever have to bury the id own child or relive their loved one’s death in a news article. It’s such a sad time with death constantly around us, so I can only hope for peace and light nowadays. Heres to all of the lives lost.
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