How does human stampede work? (1 Viewer)

[kuromusha]

700 ish Muslims killed in Mecca, how is it possible for 700 humans beings to get killed is a mass gathering?

What triggers a stampede?
Where does the stampede momentum come from? Why not just stand still until things calm down?
And what exactly kills the victims?
Do they get stepped on until they die?
Is it the battle of the strongest in a stampede?
Step or be stepped on mentality?

 

[obliviousninja]

700 ish Muslims killed in Mecca, how is it possible for 700 humans beings to get killed is a mass gathering?

What triggers a stampede?
Where does the stampede momentum come from? Why not just stand still until things calm down?
And what exactly kills the victims?
Do they get stepped on until they die?
Is it the battle of the strongest in a stampede?
Step or be stepped on mentality?

http://drury-sussex-the-crowd.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/why-do-stampedes-happen-at-crowd-events.html

 

[Flop21]

Have you heard of the 'love parade' festival tragedy? Honestly, I recommend you don't look it up.

But what happened is there were lots and lots of people trying to get through an area / walkway. You massive crowds of people coming from all directions, all feeding into this walkway area, essentially creating a bottle neck.

So can you imagine, thousands of people continuing to fill up this area / get through, eventually there are going to be so many people that if you're in the middle area, they'll be people in front of you, behind you, in every direction around you, eventually it gets so bad that everyone is coming to a stop simply because of the people around them also not being able to move. Then the pressure gets more and more intense, those people around you are now pressed up against you. There's no way out, it's like this at least 800m in front and behind of you. You are literally getting squished to death.

At this point people are panicking. They're suffocating to death simply because the people around them are so densely packed, the pressure is crushing their ribs. I would guess at this point people would be trying to save their lives by pushing, trying to get above people, and as the crowd slowly moves forward and gets slightly less dense, people are going to do their best to get the hell out of there by any means, and at this point people start running.

The people that suffocated before are unconscious on the floor, with this panicked crowd just trampling over them. Some who fall will also be trampled.

The people that survived were most likely stronger physically, AND were standing in a position that protected their ribs. I've heard people who survived this stood in a kind of 'football stance' and rode the human compression wave.

Here is a video explaining what happened at the festival:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y73-7lFBNE


I have no idea what happened in Mecca, but I thought this might be relevant. I honestly never considered this as a potential way to get seriously injured or die, i.e. large crowds in non-open areas.

 

[astroman]

What triggers a stampede? A mass movement in a congested area, doesn't have to be something moving fast, but when people are packed so tightly together and someone falls, people don't notice, also take into consideration that it's a spiritual gathering so people's awareness is lessened.
Where does the stampede momentum come from? Why not just stand still until things calm down? You can't just tell 1000s of people to stop.
And what exactly kills the victims? Being stepped on your head continuously is not nice, like being curb stomped pretty much, but hundreds of times. Also, a step on the temples will pretty much be instantly fatal.
Do they get stepped on until they die? Yes pretty much.
Is it the battle of the strongest in a stampede? No, whoever has the best situational awareness.
Step or be stepped on mentality? Stepped on.

 

[sinophile]

Shit dude

 

[Drsoccerball]

Its so stupid and inhumane what some people do... I havn't been to Mecca yet but ill go soon. From what I've heard from countless people is that straight after prayer finishes people run to the kaaba just to touch it and in this process people trying to touch it get crushed... My mate said he nearly died from a stampede when he went... I reckon they need to have stricter rules that would stop deaths each year from happening...

 

[sinophile]

Its so stupid and inhumane what some people do... I havn't been to Mecca yet but ill go soon. From what I've heard from countless people is that straight after prayer finishes people run to the kaaba just to touch it and in this process people trying to touch it get crushed... My mate said he nearly died from a stampede when he went... I reckon they need to have stricter rules that would stop deaths each year from happening...

The people are neither stupid nor inhumane. You should watch the video in Flop21's post, it explains how crowds can form bottlenecks which cause crushing death if the pressure isn't relieved

 

[kuromusha]

The people are neither stupid nor inhumane.

Throw 49 pebbles against giant stone pillars because they represent devils and getting killed in the process sounds pretty asinine to me.

 

[sinophile]

Implying other religions don't do equally stupid shit.

 

[Drsoccerball]

Throw 49 pebbles against giant stone pillars because they represent devils and getting killed in the process sounds pretty asinine to me.

Its symbolic...

 

[CaptainPrice]

This article seems like it'll answer most of your q's - http://www.wired.com/2015/09/hajj-stampede-fluid-dynamics-problem

 

[iforgotmyname]

What triggers a stampede? A mass movement in a congested area, doesn't have to be something moving fast, but when people are packed so tightly together and someone falls, people don't notice, also take into consideration that it's a spiritual gathering so people's awareness is lessened.
Where does the stampede momentum come from? Why not just stand still until things calm down? You can't just tell 1000s of people to stop.
And what exactly kills the victims? Being stepped on your head continuously is not nice, like being curb stomped pretty much, but hundreds of times. Also, a step on the temples will pretty much be instantly fatal.
Do they get stepped on until they die? Yes pretty much.
Is it the battle of the strongest in a stampede? No, whoever has the best situational awareness.
Step or be stepped on mentality? Stepped on.

Unless you are 2 meter tall

 

[astroman]

Unless you are 2 meter tall

irrelevant, once your on the ground, your gonna get stomped on no matter what.