How in the world do stampedes happen?

[smahala1991]

In South Korea, 150 plus people are dead due to a stampede in a Halloween event. Are there no police or emergency personnel to properly oversee these events?

[BeeNee]

I'll tell you from first hand experience in the most innocent way, that this can so easily happen. When I was younger, I used to teach at an afternoon program for kids. I took a vacation and when I came back, my 5-8 year olds were all so excited to see me, that they all rushed me at once to hug me. I was basically accidentally pushed down by the force of them all running at me at once which became a pile on. The first few were fine, but when the entire lot of them began pushing and jumping on the pile, I was in trouble. At the bottom of this pile, I instantly began to feel like I couldn't breath because of the pressure of all the weight of them at once, and then I felt the panic of that and my heart racing. I began trying to yell for my assistant to get them off me, but the kids were thinking it was so fun and were already screaming and yelling. I was probably under them for a couple of minutes before I felt them being pulled off, but it is not hard to imagine how people could easily die in this situation with more people, more weight, people who already have health conditions, lack of oxygen underneath a pile, etc.

Stampedes happen because of a trigger, in my case, kids excitement. If you look at something like the Houston Astroworld concert where a few people died, they were crushed essentially by the weight of so many people trying to push up against the stage because the musical artist encouraged the fans to get up close. If you yell gun in a crowded room, people WILL panic, they will run, they will quite literally step over dead bodies to attempt to get to safety. In a stampede you also cannot tell who and what is where especially as you are being pushed and pulled in every direction with the large crowd.

[jennifer_bloom]

It’s shocking people could be stupid enough to die over a stampede - but what I read was they died from heart problems so maybe a toxic drug or chemical got in there.

[smahala1991]

Maybe a chemical agent from a terrorist group or foreign enemy?

[jennifer_bloom]

It’s possible - sometimes these realities are put under a publication ban to prevent copy cat crimes

[NathanDavis]

panic is not exactly something you can just "oversee" lol

is not like you can just shout to people 'STOP PANICKING"

and then they will be like " oh okay, the cop is right, my panic is all gone like magic "

[Sevenpointfive]

it's easy to get off balance when you are shoved from behind. you shove the person in front and eventually people fall. it begins to look something like this

[dustybiker]

Crowd mentality. Survival mode kicks in when each person has that kind of weight pushing at you.

[MrTaboo]

Panic and everyone runs.