Whenever a stampede article comes out, I have to mention that the problem is always crowd control and architecture (not group psychology).
When a crowd becomes a certain size, it becomes literally impossible to control your own movements. You are tossed around by the bodies surrounding you, and people are trampled or suffocate.
In some ways characterizing as a stampede allows officials in these situations to avoid responsibility. It might be more apt to call it a crowd crush.
56
Remarkable-Guess182313 hr ago
+1
In the festival seen this is called human soup
1
FootballWise14261 day ago
+120
If you ever find yourself in a crowd crush incident, bring your arms in front of you like a “boxer’s stance," take a wide stance with feet firmly planted, do everything you can to stay upright and move diagonally to the edge of the crowded area. If you get knocked down, get in the fetal position and use your arms to protect your head and neck.
120
worksnake1 day ago
+41
This guy crowd crush incident survives.
41
sportsworker7771 day ago
+173
>Jean Henri Petit, head of Civil Protection for Haiti's Nord Department said the stampede occurred at the Laferriere Citadel, an early-19th-century fortress built shortly after Haiti's independence from France.
>One of Haiti's most popular tourist attractions, the fortress on Saturday was packed with students and visitors who had come to participate in the annual celebration of the UNESCO World Heritage site.
>...Petit said the stampede occurred at the entrance to the site, and that the rain further exacerbated the disaster.
Am I missing something? Why is this article so casual like a f****** stampede is just one of those things that happens? "Yeah it was crowded, and the rain didn't help." There are plenty of crowded celebrations, what happened here that caused a stampede?
173
ForeverAclone951 day ago
+112
Crowd crushes basically always happen because of poor crowd control protocols that result in restricted flows in narrow spaces. The trigger for that turning into a disaster can be many things or even nothing
112
Gofunkiertti1 day ago
+106
Yeah much like building collapses during earthquakes they are completely preventable except for the most extreme situations with proper planning.
It's one of those things where you don't really notice how much work has gone into crowd planning every concert, arena or public event you have ever been too. Your so used to how safe you are that you don't even think of it as a threat.
Every part of your life in a western world there are so many instances where your life is saved by good government and regulations that you have never noticed. Every shock absorbing barrier on a highway, every clean and working sewer or every fire preventing regulation.
The problem is that you never noticed that your life was saved and you can't appreciate it. Your never going to notice that time good arena planning made a crush not happen. All your going to remember is being slightly annoyed by the stupid queue system they put in.
106
sadrice1 day ago
+27
Yup. We complain about red tape like building codes, not realizing that we aren’t complaining about losing loved ones in collapsed buildings.
27
Responsible_Pizza94510 hr ago
+2
A lot of tape is red because it's covered in blood
2
monkeypickle1 day ago
+6
Every advancement in keeping people safe was paid for with blood and suffering.
6
the_corruption21 hr ago
+2
This is exactly why we have anti vaxx bullshit today (among other things). We're so far removed from the actual dangers that have been prevented by all these regulations we've started to think the regulations are unnecessary.
Similar to to a common joke in IT circles. If everything is working fine people wonder why they need IT because they do nothing. If everything is fucked up they wonder why they need IT because obviously they're not doing they're job.
Idiots don't realize that if "nothing" is happening then sometimes that means people are in fact doing their job and doing it well. Sometimes the most important job is making sure "nothing" happens.
2
Diarmundy1 day ago
+8
I mean I'm sure a fortress doesnt have great ingress or egress. It's sort of the whole point
8
dwhite217871 day ago
+2
“We’re having visitors, hold off on the boiling oil”
2
BlockatePollop21 day ago
+12
"[Local media reported there were rumors that police in Milot used too much tear gas to break up a fight near the Citadelle, and that’s what caused the panic and subsequent stampede.](https://apnews.com/article/haiti-citadelle-laferriere-stampede-3e505492e9d43e8da7ccc3227cd85b77)"
12
BlockatePollop223 hr ago
+5
Btw it turns out there was only one entrance in and out (bottleneck), and add the fact that it was raining at the time, that it had way more visitors than usual, and mass panic and shyt
5
RevolutionaryStar29514 hr ago
+1
They have tidied up their article already
1
Kind_Commission_4271 day ago
+27
Some local media have cited unconfirmed rumours that police use of tear gas to break up a nearby fight may have contributed to the panic. The sudden deployment of gas, combined with restricted space at the historic site's entrance and heavy rain, allegedly caused the massive crowd of mostly young people to surge in panic, leading to the fatal stampede.
27
Initial-Lead-28141 day ago
+2
it rained
2
bruhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-22 hr ago
+2
It can be anything. Imagine a massive group of people too tightly packed together. Some people slip and as they go down they fall on others or start pulling other people down with them. You then have a domino effect where people move all at the same time, desperately trying not to fall or let others fall on them. In a large crowd, people will notice some commotion and instinctively try to get away and panic when they realize they can't. Then the effect amplifies and pretty soon people start getting crushed.
2
ssssharkattack1 day ago
+3
I don’t want to be nonchalant, but it is Haiti. Information coming out could be incomplete for a while. And sure, there are plenty of crowded celebrations, but they don’t all take place in one of the most lawless countries on Earth.
3
LwyrUpAmrca1 day ago
+1
As bad as it sounds, with all the horrors going on in Haiti atm, this barely cracks the top 100
1
Ocarina-of-lies1 day ago
-1
A stampede would be a frequent occurrence if they don't practice fire drills, which they clearly don't
-1
Maxamillion-X721 day ago
+31
What a confusing article. There was a "stampede" and presumably it was people stampeding but I'm not sure. It talks about a tourist destination/UNESCO heritage site but doesn't say if the stampede was to get in or to get out or if it was just in the general vicinity. What caused the stampede, how many people/animals were in the stampede?
31
MyAnusBleedsForYou1 day ago
+30
It happened at the entrance of a popular tourist spot (fortress), and was possibly exacerbated by the weather. I'm gonna assume it's people, and more of a crowd crush than a stampede.
30
Seanspeed22 hr ago
+2
Also looking at pictures of the place, I can see why people might get frightened and panic, as it's very high up and lots of places to fall if you're getting pushed around and without anywhere to go. Walkways are generally quite narrow as well. Not sure how effective any kind of crowd control could really have been other than simply refusing to let that number of people up there in the first place.
Really sucks.
2
Initial-Sherbert-7391 day ago
+11
It says in the article - the stampede occurred at the entrance to the event. It was annual celebration at a popular attraction and there was heavy rain. aka big crowd in a limited space and people pushing to get inside to avoid the rain.
11
Eager_PurpleOverdose1 day ago
+5
Stampede?
5
azhillbilly1 day ago
+10
Stampede doesn’t always mean fast running, it just means stepping on people.
When the crowd is too tightly packed people overheat and faint, fall down, and then people that can’t see what they are stepping on step on the fallen.
10
xXxDickBonerz69xXx1 day ago
+9
And they can even get packed in enough the crowd starts acting like a fluid and people are suffocated while standing up.
9
Eager_PurpleOverdose1 day ago
+2
I didn't know that, thank you
2
[deleted]1 day ago
-4
[deleted]
-4
QuentinMagician1 day ago
-1
It sez stampede but not if people, cattle or why or how
-1
MyAnusBleedsForYou1 day ago
+3
People. Happened at the entrance to a fortress that's a popular tourist spot. Possibly made worse by the weather.
3
Redlight_Greenlite1 day ago
+5
Number one tourist site? Who holidays in Haiti?
5
unoriginalusername261 day ago
+2
Cruise ships make stops.
2
fireice11323 hr ago
+3
Not in that area, I can assure you
3
Seanspeed22 hr ago
+2
May shock you to learn that plenty of people vacation and travel in their own country. I live in London, but if I go visit Liverpool, I am still a tourist there.
2
JazzScholar18 hr ago
+1
The north of the country where this happened is not where the violence is. Gang activity is very low here. - also, many people live in Haiti and inter country tourism still exists.
1
CompetitiveLeague3381 day ago
+2
Horrific news from a constant struggling nation
2
salaried_staff7 hr ago
+1
Nation struggling so much, there´s not a single image of the disaster itself.. I assume that poverty is so high, nobody had a cellphone with a camera to record it at the moment.
1
Squirll1 day ago
+2
For this article it seems Stampede = Crowd Crush incident. Probably some kind of translation issue, like a game of telephone.
43 Comments