Ten tips for surviving during a human avalanche

On July 24, 2010, more than 1 million people dance into a dark tunnel 200 meters long. The crowd of festivalgoers, dressed in sunglasses and fluorescent wigs, heads to a former railway station in the industrial area of ​​Duisburg, in eastern Germany, to participate in the Love Parade, one of the most popular electronic music festivals. crowded in the world.

By mid-afternoon, a large crowd forms at the exit of the tunnel, but the underground is too narrow to allow a crowd of that magnitude to pass through.

As the minutes go by, the density of people increases dangerously. The festival visitors, huddled against each other, can hardly move their arms or hands. In the center of the human tide, some do not even have room to breathe anymore and, around five in the afternoon, while the songs of the best DJs in the world are playing, the first victims begin to suffocate.

The number of casualties will be high: 21 dead and 651 wounded. A survivor declares in the newspaper Bild: “It was impossible to get out of the tunnel. It was like there was a wall of people in front of me.”

Barely a month before the tragedy, I was defending my doctoral thesis in an amphitheater at the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse. The thesis dealt with the displacement of crowds.

He had spent three years examining mass movement in all sorts of places: on shopping streets, at Christmas markets, and even in laboratory experiments. That’s why it didn’t surprise me that, when the media announced the Love Parade accident, all my friends asked me the same thing: what should be done in such a situation? What behavior is recommended to survive when one is caught in a human tide, as happened to the victims of the Love Parade? Let’s analyze it in more detail.

Why does the crowd kill?

Since the 1990s, the intensity of human avalanches has followed a constant increase. The last case that has come to us has been the tragedy in Seoul, in which at least 154 people have died. On average, around 380 people die in these types of accidents every year, the deadliest of which took place in Mecca in September 2015, where 2,300 people lost their lives.

There are three poles of attraction that bring together the most massive concentrations: religion, football and parties. Faithful summary of the passions that move human beings…

For example, in Mecca, the Muslim pilgrimage brings together more than 3 million faithful every year. It is true that the capacity of football stadiums is much lower, since they have capacity for tens of thousands of people, but the popular celebrations that are celebrated after an important victory can attract hundreds of thousands of fans to the streets of a city. city. Recall, for example, the image of the Champs-Élysées packed with people on July 15, 2018, after France’s victory in the final of the World Cup.

And when it comes to music festivals and concerts, they are not far behind either. The largest record ever observed was held by the sound and light show organized by Jean-Michel Jarre in Moscow in September 1997, which brought together 3.5 million people.

In such extreme conditions, the slightest organizational failure can immediately turn into a nightmare. But what exactly happens during a human avalanche? It is curious, but the dynamics of this phenomenon have not been understood until very recently, just in 2006, due to a new tragedy.

“Crowd tremor”

That year there was a stampede of great magnitude that caused the death of 362 Muslim pilgrims in Mecca. On that occasion, the accident could be recorded with a surveillance camera, whose images were sent 5,000 kilometers away, to the laboratory of the German physicist Dirk Helbing.

Thanks to the valuable video, this researcher specializing in crowd behavior managed to find the key to the mystery: the “crowd tremor” (in English, crowd-quake). It is a collective phenomenon that occurs spontaneously when the density of people reaches a critical limit of around 6 individuals per square meter. At this level of congestion, the physical contacts between bodies are so intense that the slightest movement unleashes a stampede wave that ripples through the crowd.

Similar to the seismic jolts that occur during an earthquake, these shock waves cause people to fall to the ground and experience crushing physical pressure.

Since this important discovery was made, “crowd tremors” have been consistently detected during deadly stampedes like the one that took place at the Love Parade. And, although more and more data is known about these phenomena, no solution has yet been found to stop a stampede once it starts.

Survival Guide

So what do you do when you get caught in the crowd, see the fence tightening, and start to feel the tremors? Here are some survival tips gleaned from the research we conduct in the labs at Fouloscopydedicated to studying the behavior of crowds.

1. Keep your eyes open

Your first objective will be to get out of the mass as quickly as possible. Look around you: which is better, to turn around or keep going? To find out, try to figure out where the epicenter of the stampede is, where the crowding is at its highest, and move to where the density progressively decreases. And don’t forget to look up. You may find a quick escape route by climbing a barrier or climbing on a bar counter.

2. Leave while you’re on time

As density increases around you, the available space decreases and your freedom of movement progressively reduces. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to get out of there. Time plays against you. So don’t hesitate to move out of the heavy congestion zone as soon as you start to feel overwhelmed and while you still have room to move.

Also, by moving away from the center of the crowd, you will reduce the risk of an accident for others, as your absence will have the effect of easing congestion for those who stay behind.

3. Stay on your feet

If it’s too late to run, he has no choice but to adapt. In such a case, the most important recommendation will be to maintain balance. Whatever happens, stay on your feet, or else you’ll be caught in a critical situation. During a human avalanche, people are so close to each other that if you were to fall, you would immediately drag your neighbors down with a domino effect. Before he can get up, the weight of the bodies will pin him to the ground. So stay on your feet! For example, be especially careful with backpacks or other abandoned objects that can throw you off balance.

4. Save oxygen

Oxygen will be your most precious resource, and you will miss it if the situation worsens, since the vast majority of deaths are caused by suffocation. For example, try not to yell unless absolutely necessary, and control your breathing as much as possible.

5. Fold your arms

I discovered this technique by reading the reports of Paul Wertheimer, director of Crowdsafe, a consultancy specializing in crowd control. And the truth is that it is a good idea. When the pressure gets too intense, fold your arms across your chest, like a boxer. In this position you will be able to protect your rib cage and keep a few inches of space around your ribs and lungs.

6. Let yourself be swept away by the human tide

When pushed, the natural reflex is to resist the pressure by pushing in the opposite direction. However, in the case of a human avalanche, it is not advisable to act in this way, since a shock wave cannot be counteracted with the strength of the arms alone. The pressure of the crowd will drag you down, no matter what you do. Therefore, to offer resistance would be to waste precious energy. Also, by resisting, you could increase the physical tension, making subsequent waves even more intense. You must do the opposite: let yourself be swept away by the human tide and simply try to keep your balance.

7. Stay away from walls

The only place where the above advice should not apply is near a wall, fence, or other solid object. Studies show that the proximity of an obstacle is a major source of danger. Often the first victims of a stampede are crushed against a wall, as was the case during the Turin panic of 2017 or the Heysel and Hillsborough stadium tragedies of the 1980s. Our numerical simulations show that the strongest pressures are exerted near a solid obstacle. So, as much as possible, stay away from walls, posts, or fences.

8. Learn to interpret density signals

In order for you to make the right decisions, it is important that you know how to assess the seriousness of the situation. But how do you achieve this without a measuring instrument and when you yourself are immersed in the mass? Here are some simple rules so you can calculate the density around you:

• If you do not have any physical contact with the people around you, the density is probably still less than 3 people per square meter, and in that case there is no risk situation.

• If you accidentally touch one or two of your neighbors at the same time, the density is probably between 4 and 5 people per square meter. There is no immediate danger, but it would be preferable if you began to calmly move away from the center of the congestion.

• If your arm movements are impeded in such a way that it is difficult for you to bring your hand closer to your face, there are too many people. Get out of there!

9. In a panic

A panic stampede is a particular case in which a crowd rushes in the same direction to flee from real or perceived danger, as occurred in the stampede in Madhya Pradesh, India in 2013, at the Place de la République in Paris in November 2015, in Piazza San Carlo in Turin in June 2017 or in Cours Saleya in Nice in July 2018.

In such situations, be aware that the human rush may be more dangerous than the threat you are running from. So take a few moments to assess the nature of the danger and calmly move away to stay as far away from the crowd as possible.

10. Mutual aid

If the situation is serious for you, it is also serious for the people around you. Studies conducted by psychologist John Drury, from the University of Sussex (England), have repeatedly shown that altruism and mutual aid are essential elements to avoid a tragedy. A supportive crowd has a better chance of surviving than an individualistic crowd. So, be supportive and attentive to others and offer help when you can, ensuring that those who are by your side do not fall and taking care of the weakest. Everyone will win, and so will you.

Mehdi Moussaid, Interdisciplinary researcher specializing in crowd behavior, Max Planck Institute for Human Development

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.