We cannot often avoid crowd, and have to be part of it for various reasons. One really does not know when an innocent crowd starts to turn into a stampede or crush situation.
Being informed, and acting on your know how, you can lead your near, and dear ones away from danger of being killed to safety.
- Be observant: Take a moment to make a mental note of all the exits in a venue as soon as you reach there. The natural urge is to use the same route for exit, not because it is safer, but because it is familiar. There may however be an alternative exit being used by fewer people, and that could get you out more quickly, if you know where it is.
- The best way to survive a human stampede is to adequately evaluate your surroundings long before the stampede ever begins. If attending a large event with lots of people, make sure you know where all the available exits are. At a club, this might mean knowing where the fire exits, and rear entry exits are located. In addition to identifying exit doors, be aware of alternative exits, like accessible windows.
- If the crowd thickens around you, the available space gets reduced, and your freedom of movement gradually diminishes. The longer you wait, the harder it would be to escape. Given this, don’t hesitate to leave the highly congested area as soon as you start to feel uncomfortable, and while you still have enough room to move.
- By getting out of the crowd, you would also reduce the danger for others, since the area would be less crowded for those who stay.
- When you start to feel uncomfortable in a crowd, this is the time to start looking at leaving. This is however not easy because, if you have travelled a long distance, or you’ve waited for a long time. Many people postpone that decision until it is too late, and find them trapped in a large, swaying, and shuffling crowd. Here are some survival tips for such situations:
- Stay on your feet.
- Conserve energy – don’t push against the crowd, and don’t yell or scream.
- Use sign language to communicate with those around you (point, wave, and even use your eyes).
- Keep your hands up by your chest, like a boxer – it gives you movement, and protects your chest.
- If you are in danger, ask people to crowd surf you out.
- If someone extends their hand for help, grab hold to keep them up.
- Accordion method: There is generally a lull after you are pushed forward, like in a wave. That lull is your chance to move, and you have to move in a diagonal manner, between pockets of people. Remember there always is space between people. A couple of steps sideways, another wave surge, then another couple of steps in the next lull. You have to work your way out that way till you get to the periphery.
- Take cover: If the only immediate danger is stampede rather than some other emergency like a fire, try and reach some area of cover. At an indoor venue, this might be a side hallway, or closet. Outside, look for trees, vehicles, or anything large that you can climb on/atop to protect yourself from the force of the crowd.
- Keep moving: If you can’t take cover, keep moving. When pushed, our natural reflex can be to resist the pressure, and push back. In a crowd crush, however, resisting would be a waste of precious energy. Instead, let yourself be carried by the flow while always retaining your balance. Resisting the force of the crowd would only tire you out, and conserving energy is critical to surviving a stampede. This however does not imply that you move exactly in the direction of the crowd. Moving diagonally with the flow of the crowd would bring you to the edge where it is less likely that you would end up stuck at a chokepoint, like a doorway.
- Arms up: Contrary to popular assumption, getting trampled is not the only way people die in a stampede. As the crowd moves forward, people can get stuck standing up as the pressure of the crowd intensifies all around them. In time, this pressure could become so great that it crushes people, preventing them from being able to breathe. In that position you can protect your rib cage, push out against the pressure, and keep a few centimetres of space around your ribs, and lungs so you can breathe.
- Avoid choke points: Choke points are any space that restricts the flow of the crowd; doorways, hallways, and bridges are all perfect examples. While these narrow spaces lead to exits, these also represent the most dangerous place to be in a crowd. If at all possible, avoid getting trapped near a choke point where the force of the crowd would inevitably increase exponentially as more and more people pack toward it.
- Look for hidden and non-obvious exits: Humans are creatures of habit. In most cases, people will rush for the same doorway, or gate that they used to enter the venue. Always scope out alternative exits when you arrive somewhere, and if an emergency occurs, that is the time to make use of these. Windows and fire exits are good things to look for if you are inside a building. If you are at an outdoor event, do not hesitate to scale fences, or go over temporary barriers if it means you can escape the main flow of the stampede.
- If everyone is running toward an exit, that intuitively seems like the best option, too — but that is not always the smartest one. Don’t just do what the person next to you does. Individuals blindly follow one another, clogging some exits, and ignoring others.
- Keep your eyes open: Your number-one goal is to get out as quickly, and calmly as possible. Look around you, and assess if it is better to turn back, or go forward. To find out, try to guess where the epicentre of the crush is located – where it is most crowded – and then move toward where the crowd thins out. Do not forget to look up. You might find a quick escape by climbing a fence or getting up onto a ledge.
- Remain upright: If it is too late to flee, the most important thing to do is retain your balance, and stay upright. In a crowd crush, people are pressed so tightly together that if someone falls, they create a domino effect, immediately taking down those around them. Should you fall, the weight of other bodies would pin you to the ground before you have a chance to right yourself. So stay on your feet.
- Save your breath: Oxygen is your most precious resource. Vast majority of deaths in stampedes are caused by asphyxiation. Avoid screaming unless you have to, and control your breathing.
- Move away from barriers: The first victims of a crush are often pinned against barriers, as was the case in Turin in 2017 and in Heysel and Hillsborough disasters in the 1980s. If possible, move away from any walls, pillars, and fences.
- Understand the signs of density: To make good decisions, you must be able to evaluate the gravity of the situation. Here are a few rules of thumb for estimating crowd density; (i) if you have no physical contact with those around you, the density is probably still under 03 people per sq m, so at present all is well, (ii) if you are bumping against one or two people around you without meaning to, the crowd density must be around 04-05 people per sq m. There is no immediate danger, but it would be better to move away from the centre of the congestion, (iii) if you can’t freely move your hands, to the point that it is difficult to touch your face, there are too many people – the danger has become acute.
- If you fall, cover your head: If you find yourself on the ground, absolutely get up if you can. But if it is impossible, curling up on your side and covering your head with your arms is the best option, to minimise damage. As soon as the crowd lets up, do your best to get up again, and head to the periphery, so you can safely exit the venue, gather your bearings, and call your loved ones.