October 29 fatal crowd happened in ItaewonSeoul commercial area, where 156 people died. Around 100,000 young people and teenagers attended Halloween celebrations in this neighborhood and the situation got out of control.

On Tuesday, South Korea’s police chief called his emergency response “inadequate,” acknowledging that officials had not done enough to prevent the tragedy.

It is important to remember that a crush or spike is different from a stampede, in the first case the person is in a tight and confined space, while in the second if there is room to run.

We tell you what you should remember to avoid finding yourself in this situation and be able to deal with it if you get caught in a crowd.

Counting the number of people

“There is a critical density threshold, any situation where there are more than four or five people per square meter starts to be in the red risk zone,” explains G. Keith Still, a crowd safety expert and professor at the University of Suffolk, in the UK.

Martyn Amos, a crowd expert and professor of computer and information science at the University of Northumbria, UK, advises people who are not tall enough to see how many people are there, watch how the crowd moves.

The expert explained that in agglomeration people “basically become particles dependent on physics, rather than depending on their own decisions” and that’s when the situation gets dangerous.

“When you feel like you can’t force your personal space, it’s time to leave,” adds Amos.

Go with the flow and stand tall

The best thing we can do to get out of the masses is to continue to the side of the current and find a way out.

“It’s like when a current takes you out to sea. If you swim against it, you lose energy and sink, but if you move sideways or diagonally, it can help you,” says Amos.

If you do not have the possibility to go to the exit, you must stand up, not bend over and help those who need it to get up.

Amos warns that if you wear heels, you should get rid of them: “You can stumble and fall, which will prevent you from getting back up and cause others to stumble and even fall on you.”

However, one of the common causes of death in a crush is suffocation, which can be caused by standing up.

Protect yourself

Amos recommends creating a buffer zone, grabbing your arm with your dominant hand to build a kind of halo around you with your elbow. “This will help you create a personal space,” he says.

This technique will allow your chest to expand and contract for easier breathing.

“Many die from suffocation due to compression. When you exhale, the mass of people can press against the body so hard that the chest can’t expand later to take in more air. That’s how you suffocate,” Amos says.

Better safe than sorry

There are times when it’s too late, as happened in Seoul.

Sill noted that the measures could work if “adopted when the density of people is lower, but when it gets to a point like Seoul, you might not even be able to raise your hand.”

To that end, experts emphasize that once we arrive at a place we should realize and leave if we see that there is no longer enough room to move comfortably.

Main news sources: BBC.