Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T08:41:57.459Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Epidemiological Characteristics of Human Stampedes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2013

Yu-Hsiang Hsieh ,
Ka Ming Ngai ,
Frederick M. Burkle Jr  and
Edbert B. Hsu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Objective: The potential for deadly human stampedes to occur at any mass gathering event highlights this unique form of crowd disaster as deserving of special attention from both scientific and planning perspectives. Improved understanding of human stampedes is indispensable in the mitigation of this type of mass casualty. With relatively few peer-reviewed reports on deadly human stampedes, information from news reports and the Internet is essential to increased collective understanding. Without incorporating nontraditional sources, no other way to reasonably acquire sufficient data is available. This study analyzed human stampede events from 1980 to 2007 to identify epidemiological characteristics associated with increased mortality.

Methods: A LexisNexis search was followed by sequential searches of multiple Internet-based English-language news agencies. Date, country, geographical region, time of occurrence, type of event, location, mechanism, number of participants, number injured, and number of deaths were recorded. Bivariate analyses of number of deaths or injuries were conducted using a nonparametric Wilcoxon rank test. Multivariate regression was performed to determine the factors associated with increased number of fatalities during stampede events.

Results: A total of 215 human stampede events were reported from 1980 to 2007, resulting in 7069 deaths and at least 14,078 injuries from 213 events with available fatality information and 179 events with injury information. In bivariate analysis, stampedes occurring in the Middle East, in developing countries, outdoors, or associated with religious events had the highest median number of deaths. In multivariate analysis, events that occurred in developing countries and outdoors were associated with increased number of fatalities. Stampedes that occurred in the context of sports, religious, music, and political events, or that had a unidirectional mechanism, also increased the relative number of deaths.

Conclusions: Several epidemiological features of human stampedes associated with increased mortality are identified. Standardized collection of epidemiological data pertaining to human stampedes is strongly recommended, and further study of this recurrent, distinctive disaster is warranted. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3:217–223)

Keywords

human stampedemass gatheringmass casualtycrowd disaster
Type
Original Research and Critical Analysis
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 3 , Issue 4 , December 2009 , pp. 217 - 223
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1.Ngai, KM, Burkle, FM, Hsu, A, et alHuman stampedes: a systematic review of historical and peer-reviewed sources. Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2009;3:191–195.Google Scholar
2.DeAngeles, D, Schurr, M, Birnbaum, M, et alTraumatic asphyxia following stadium crowd surge: stadium factors affecting outcome. WMJ. 1998;97:42–45.Google Scholar
3.Elliott, D, Smith, D. Football stadia disasters in the United Kingdom: learning from tragedy? Ind Environ Crisis Q. 1993;7:205–229.Google Scholar
4.Begum, AA. Unnatural deaths during Zakat distribution. Bangladesh Med Res Counc Bull. 1993;19:99–102.Google Scholar
5.Wardrope, J, Ryan, F, Clark, G, et alThe Hillsborough tragedy. BMJ. 1991;303:1381–1385.Google Scholar
6.Johnson, NR. Panic at “The Who concert stampede”: an empirical assessment. Soc Probl. 1987;34:362–373.Google Scholar
7.Madzimbamuto, F, Madamombe, T. Traumatic asphyxia during stadium stampede. Cent Afr J Med. 2004;50:69–72.Google Scholar
8.Ahmed, QA, Arabi, YM, Memish, ZA. Health risks at the Hajj. Lancet. 2006;367:1008–1015.Google Scholar
9.CIA World Factbook. http://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/appendix/appendix-b.html. Accessed March 12, 2008.Google Scholar
10.Diekman, ST, Ballesteros, MF, Berger, LR, et alEcological level analysis of the relationship between smoking and residential-fire mortality. Inj Prev. 2008;14:228–231.Google Scholar
11.Alexander, D. The health effects of earthquakes in the mid-1990s. Disasters. 1996;20:231–247.Google Scholar
12.Arbon, P. The development of conceptual models for mass-gathering health. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2004;19:208–212.Google Scholar
13.Milstein, AM, Maguire, BJ, Bissell, RA, et alMass-gathering medical care: a review of the literature. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2002;17:151–162.Google Scholar
14.Helbing, D, Farkas, I, Vicsek, T. Simulating dynamical features of escape panic. Nature. 2000;407:487–490.Google Scholar
15.Helbing, D, Johansson, A, Al-Abideen, HZ. Dynamics of crowd disasters: an empirical study. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2007;75:046109.Google Scholar
16.Smith, RA, Dickie, F. Engineering for Crowd Safety. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1993.Google Scholar
17.Arbon, P. Mass-gathering medicine: a review of the evidence and future directions for research. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2007;22:131–135.Google Scholar
18.Arbon, P, Bridgewater, FH, Smith, C. Mass-gathering medicine: a predictive model for patient presentation and transport rates. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2001;16:150–158.Google Scholar