Crowd Disaster

India’s population is approximately 1/6th of the total world population. The population density in India is 464 per square kilometer (2020, World Bank data). Throughout the world, India is renowned as a land of festivals characterised by numerous mass gatherings across the country. Many of the disasters caused by crowds are artificial. Several incidents of stampedes have occurred at religious institutions, railway stations, and the sites of sporting events, social gatherings, and political gatherings. The contemporary security environment coupled with rapid urbanisation, improved transportation facilities, and relatively easy access to important shrines enhances crowdrelated disasters.

Causes:

• Structural failure: Collapse of barricades, narrow entry, absence of emergency exits, non-availability of fire extinguishers, etc.

• Human errors: Lack of coordination between stakeholders, under deployment of security personnel, Crowd behaviour to rush in/out of a venue, etc.

Effects: 

• Puts a lot of pressure on the authorities to manage personnel
• May lead to severe traffic delays
• It may give rise to pollution, stampede, animosity among people, riots, etc.
• Subsequently, it may lead to medical emergencies.

Developing a comprehensive plan for dealing with unforeseen events is essential. Developing a crowd management strategy should be an effort that takes into account the issues, challenges, and usage of technology in locations and occasions of large gatherings in India, which are predominantly concentrated on shrines and religious places.