A prevention-oriented crowd safety management plan should be established and implemented based on an analysis of the vulnerability of mass gatherings throughout Seoul.
Crowd accidents in large cities are complex disasters that can spread damage… Seoul City needs systematic management
In Seoul, a large city with a dense population and facilities, six crowd accidents have occurred in the past 60 years. In particular, a stampede accident occurred in Itaewon in October 6, in which 2022 people were crushed to death. It is noteworthy that past crowd accidents in Seoul occurred at cultural events or in transportation facilities such as stations, but the Itaewon disaster occurred in a crowded situation where the purpose or host of the event was unclear. The disaster was not a single event site, but rather a complex disaster in which regional vulnerabilities contributed to the spread of damage.
When Seoul citizens were surveyed on the severity of crowd accidents compared to other types of disasters, 74.6% responded that it was serious, and 1% responded that crowd accidents were likely to recur within a year. Seoul citizens perceive crowd accidents as more serious than representative complex disasters such as fires or collapses of crowded facilities, and are concerned that crowd accidents may recur if the Seoul Metropolitan Government does not properly manage them. Seoul has a large population, densely packed streets, and many causes of crowds, creating conditions that easily allow for crowds to gather. Unlike event venues where safety management is clearly required, crowds of people must also consider the vulnerability of the area to the spread of crushing damage in order to systematically prevent accidents.
Provide guidelines through analysis of countries and regions where crowd accidents occur… Analysis of mass gatherings throughout Seoul is necessary
Major countries where crowd accidents have occurred, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and India, have provided guidelines for establishing emergency plans and managing the site, focusing on planned events. The guidelines focus on events, but they also suggest assessing the risks and vulnerabilities of the event site or surroundings to respond to dangerous situations. In cases where quantitative data is used, population, roads, congestion, event characteristics, and ease of initial response are presented.
After the Itaewon disaster, Seoul City has also enacted an ordinance on safety management of mass gathering events and is in the process of enacting or revising an ordinance on safety management of outdoor events. Although crowd safety management measures such as intelligent CCTV, crowd accident safety management consultation meetings, and related safety management plans are being prepared, they are mainly limited to regional analyses based on experience and simulations of some regions, and an analysis of the vulnerability of mass gatherings throughout Seoul is needed. Through an analysis of vulnerability of mass gatherings, the measures should be continuously implemented even considering the variability of mass gatherings of the living population.
Seoul City, concerns over crowd accidents due to dense population and complex routes in influx areas
In order to identify the vulnerability of mass gatherings in Seoul, where crowd accidents are a concern, text data such as population and road data, crowd density survey data, distribution of tourism, events, and commercial districts, and status of event hosting were obtained. The data were divided into basic data, risk, and response vulnerability for GIS analysis and organized into spatial units of 500×500㎡. The basic data were the living population and road ratio, the risk was set as areas with dense floating population and roads adjacent to festival sites, and the response vulnerability was set as CCTV non-influenced areas, fire dispatch frequency, and ambulance dispatch frequency. The weights for each classification were calculated as 0.141 for basic data, 0.584 for risk, and 0.275 for response vulnerability. The weights of the detailed indicators were calculated as 0.315 for areas with dense floating population and 0.269 for roads adjacent to festival sites, in that order.