Disaster Management Community

Solution Exchange for the Disaster Management Community Consolidated Reply

Query: Crowd Management Strategies. - Advice; Experience

Compiled by G Padmanabhan, Resource Person and Nupur Arora, Research Associate Issue Date: 18 August 2009

From Satheesh KK Sridharan, United Nations Development Programme, Vijayawada Posted 9 July 2009 I work for the Urban Earthquake vulnerability Initiative in Vijayawada UEVRP. In densely populated urban areas we usually hear about cases of Stampede, due to which many people are injured and many others die.

Last year 6 people died during a stampede in a famous temple in Vijayawada and more than 145 died in another temple stampede in Himachal Pradesh. In another incident at least 130 people were crushed to death and more than 450 injured in a stampede caused by a rush of devotees at a temple in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

I feel we can’t ignore this disaster. We need to take appropriate steps to address the issues of preparedness and the management of crowd during such big gatherings.

In light of this, I request members to provide: • Suggestions on ensuring effective rescue operations during temple stampedes and strategies for creating public awareness, • Experiences of crowd management to avoid any kind of disasters and • Documents or reference material on Disaster Management Plans, Standard Operating Procedures or training for Police and Fire personals, specifically for the crowd management strategies

Your contributions will help us deepening our understanding on issues related to such a disaster and enable us to take appropriate action.

Various news items on Stampede incidents can be viewed at these links; http://www.hinduonnet.com/2008/01/04/stories/2008010450020100.htm http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=85631b67-c1c8- 4044-b87c- a51f4c7349e4&&Headline=Stampede+leaves+147+dead+at+Naina++shrine+in+HP http://www.hindu.com/2008/10/01/stories/2008100158580100.htm

Responses were received, with thanks, from 1. Anubrata Datta, Calcutta Society for Professional Action for Development, Kolkata 2. Amit Tuteja, SEEDS , New Delhi 3. Ashutosh Madhukar, Institute of Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management, United States of America 4. M. Sarumathy, Rajiv Gandhi National Institue of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur, Tamilnadu 5. R Sivaram, UNICEF, New Delhi 6. Ashok Kumar Pathak, Development Consultant, Uttar Pradesh 7. Ahana , TRINet Chennai 8. Bhawna Gupta, University of Sydney, Australia 9. Ray, Sanghamitra Trust, Kolkota 10. Ravishwar Sinha, Independent, New Delhi

Further contributions are welcome!

Summary of Responses Comparative Experiences Related Resources Responses in Full

Summary of Responses The primary factor in assuring a safe and comfortable environment for large crowds is the planning for their management. The report, Crowd Management- Report of the Task Force on Crowd Control and Safety highlightes that crowd management must take into account all the elements of an event especially , characteristics of the facility, size and demeanor of the crowd, methods of entrance, communications, crowd control, and queuing. As in all management, it must include planning, organizing, staffing, directing and evaluating. Particularly critical to crowd management is defining the roles of parties involved in an event, the quality of the advance intelligence, and the effectiveness of the planning process

Various stakeholders are responsible for better crowd management and preventing accidents. In this regard, members provided suggestions on responsibilities of each stakeholder separately:

Temple Management Board/Trust: • Making provisions for multi entrance/exit at temple to ensure proper emergency evacuation • Arranging cameras and screens to security staff and Police so that they can view the movements • Providing guidelines with respect to safety and existing capacity, in coordination with local government and allied agencies

Police department/ Security Agency: • Being well equipped with advance communication tools like walkie-talkies etc • Providing adequate security to crowd, and maintaining law & order in emergency situation • Ensuring safe & secured surroundings from alcohol shops and other anti social elements

Operational Working Committee Staff: Temple’s operational working committee staff is in real sense, the most effective and potentially very strong task force available within the temple premises. It’s essential that Committee staff members/ volunteers are available everywhere, preferably in special dresses or with separate identity. Members recommended having sufficient nodal points for Staff members to provide emergency services and help the devotees. Some responsibilities of this group are: • Maintaining queuing system by halting the queue motion intermittently balance crowd • Coordinating amongst the crowd, Police, Fire department, Medical team and allied agencies

Local Government: • Establishing safety codes by determining the existing capacity and other essential attributes. These safety measures are abided through laws and enforced by the various allied agencies. • Generating awareness among general public, devotees, security staff and temple’s working committee members to help them emergency situations • Preparing Disaster Management/ Crowd Management Plans. • Conducting scenario based drills to help in checking the existing security & safety mechanism and improving on them.

Devotees and Citizens: • Following signboards, queuing system, announcements and having patience for long queues • Avoiding spreading and listening to rumors and in case of panic contacting the temple authorities • Extending cooperation to the local Government, Police, Temple Committee members/ volunteers during drills, trainings, and awareness initiatives • Participating and following the safety precautions, as per operating procedures

Apart from above guidelines, specific Standard Operating Procedures with roles and responsibilities are required. E.g Fire department can train committee members to operate fire extinguishers and Health department can make necessary provisions of providing First Aid services at the appropriate locations, as & when needed.

Members provided the following strategies to reduce stampedes, particularly in temples: • Having One-way traffic and controlled entry in all the temples/religious places • Increasing security arrangements during festival season and involve home guards, volunteers, NCC/NSS and Red Cross Volunteers and Police. • Controlling crowding of Cars, shopkeepers outside the temple premises • Creating more entry and exit points which can be used in case of emergency • Having separate of entry and exit for special guests • Creating volunteer management and mobalisation strategies to optimally use the services. • Having sufficient signage in the temple guiding on ways to exit in case of emergency • Ensuring regular announcements advising people to be in their queue and about the number and directions of exit in case of emergency.

An interesting idea emerged during the discussion on educating people that festivals are not only the time to visit temples. Members felt that this may be difficult, but over the period of time will be one of the most effective means to control the crowd at the religious places during the festival time. Members also suggested opening the temples at all times, during the morning and night to help reduce the crowd.

Members shared experiences of effective crowd management at the Akshardham temple, New Delhi. The security in the temple ensures efficient communication of messages and restricting the number of piligrims in the temple at one point. Also at the Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, the authorities take strict traffic control measures to manage crowd during the yearly Trade fair.

Finally members share various documents on managing crowd in public places which are shared in the recommended resources section

Comparative Experiences New Delhi

From R Sivaram, UNICEF, New Delhi

Crowd Management at Akshardham temple, In order to manage crowd at the Akshardham temple the volunteers provide clear and loud instructions to the crowd. They manage entries by blocking people after a few thousands or hundred piligrims and then releasing the next lot. In addition they do not allow unpleasant/suspecious looking people and finally communicate their messages efficiently to their control room. This has helped the temple management to ensue crowd management.

Safety Measures at Pragati Maidan, For the Trade Fair and other Exhibitions at the Pragiti Maidan in New Delhi the authorities carry out excellent traffic management. This controls traffic chaos to a great extent. People are not allowed to use the roads and are instructed to walk only on footpaths that itself has allowed traffic to flow smoothly. This with other measures has proved to be successful in managing crowd and traffic.

Related Resources Recommended Documentation

From Anubrata Datta, Calcutta Society for Professional Action for Development, Kolkata

Crowd Management- Report of the Task Force on Crowd Control and Safety Report; by Mr. Paul L. Welthiemer; City Manager's Office;Cincinnati; 1980; Available at http://crowdsafe.net/taskrpt/toc.html#TOC Taskforce report highlights that the primary factor in assuring a safe and comfortable environment for large crowds is the planning for their management.

Crowd Management and Civil Disobedience Guidelines Guidelines; California Commission on Peace Officer Standards and Training ; California; March 2003 Available at http://www.post.ca.gov/PREFACE%20and%20Guidelines%20for%20WEB_032103.pdf (Pdf Size: 675 KB) Guidelines contain information for law enforcement agencies to consider when addressing the broad range of issues related to crowd management.

Understanding Crowd behaviours: A guide for Readers (from Ashutosh Madhukar, Institute of Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management, United States of America) Guidelines; The Cabinet Office Emergency Planning College; United Kingdom; 2009; Available at http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/220989/guideforreaders.pdf (Pdf Size: 450 KB) A practical report, which provides a comprehensive set of good practice guidelines for crowd events and management, and for emergency situations and evacuations.

Woman dies of suffocation, 13 injured in stampede (from M. Sarumathy, Rajiv Gandhi National Institue of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur, Tamilnadu) Article; www.Siffy.com; 22 July 2009 Available at http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?a=jhwk4bgfjee&tag=topnews&title=Woman_dies_of_suffocati on,_13_injured_in_stampede_in_Varanasi Article informing about the stampede that left 13 others injured in the where thousands had gathered on the occasion of solar eclipse.

Recommended Communities and Networks

International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), United States of America (from Ashutosh Madhukar, Institute of Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management, United States of America) 201 Park Washington Court, Falls Church, VA, 22046-4527, United States of America,+1 (703) 538-1795,[email protected] A non-profit educational organization dedicated to promoting the goals of saving lives and protecting property during emergencies and disasters.

Recommended Portals and Information Bases

Ingenta Connect, United Kingdom (from Anubrata Datta, Calcutta Society for Professional Action for Development, Kolkata) http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search;jsessionid=4b6giksf2gaps.alice?database=1&title=Crowd %20management; The portal contains articles, reports and papers on varous topics including Crowd Management.

Responses in Full Anubrata Datta, Calcutta Society for Professional Action for Development, Kolkata First of all, thanks for identifying a very important issue in a temple-infested country like ours. Definitely the issue of Crowd Management calls for further attention locally and nationally. A simple search reveals many links - I am providing some of them for your immediate reference. Still, I feel a well-planned research is needed to identify the Best Practices adopted by temple administering authorities like TTD. http://crowdsafe.net/taskrpt/chpt1.html http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search;jsessionid=4b6giksf2gaps.alice?database=1&title=Crowd %20management http://resources.bnet.com/topic/crowd+management+strategies.html?tag=content;col1 http://www.post.ca.gov/PREFACE%20and%20Guidelines%20for%20WEB_032103.pdf http://fh.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/15/4/400

Amit Tuteja, SEEDS India, New Delhi You have raised a very pertinent issue of Crowd management, which has yet to receive the desired attention, in today’s world. In a populated country like India, sometimes the mismanagement of crowd leads to temple stampede, which proves to be very dangerous.

And for this, all the stakeholders are partly responsible. In this regard, please find below few suggestions (addressing each stakeholder separately):

Temple Management Board/ Trust

Temple Management Board/ Trust is the apex body and morally responsible for all the operating functions related to temple. Trust has to take the following precautionary steps from safety point of view: • Trust has to make provisions for multi entrance of temple, single entry or lone exit always to be avoided. These kinds of provisions help a lot, in emergency evacuation. • Trust also should provide all the monetary support for arranging sufficient no. of cameras and screens to security staff and Police, in order to avoid any chaos, so that security staff and devotees can view the movements of other nodal points, as & when required. • Trust should take a note of the temple operational working committee’s issues and arrange to provide the recommended guidelines by laws, with respect to safety and existing capacity, in coordination with local government and allied agencies.

Police department/ Security Agency

The role of Police department and security agencies, is very crucial in order to deal with crowd management. The following steps have to be taken into their operating procedures:

• Police deptt. and appointed concerned security agencies should be well equipped with advance communication tools like walkie talkies, mobiles instruments etc. • The key role of Police deptt. & allied agencies are to provide adequate security to the crowd, and maintain law & order in the situation when needed most/ extreme conditions. • Another important role of Police department. is to ensure safe & secured, good clean & hygienic surroundings. The drunken people/ alcohol shops and armed personnel should not be allowed or encouraged, especially near the temple.

Operational Working Committee Staff

Temple’s operational working committee staff. is in real sense, the most effective and potentially very strong task force available within the temple premises. The key roles of working committee should be as per the following:

• The operational committee staff should be able to maintain the queuing system. When the large crowd gathers, the committee staff should halt the queue motion intermittently in order to make the crowd balance, based on existing capacity of temple premises and the approaching walkway/ pedestrian path. • The Operational committee staff members should be well trained in coordination amongst the crowd, Police, Fire deptt, Medical team and allied agencies. Through the announcements and providing updates, Committee members should be able to guide and manage the crowd, at the time of chaos. • Committee staff members/ volunteers should be available everywhere, preferably in special dress or with separate identity on way towards temple and on the return path. There should be sufficient nodal points, from where the Staff members can provide the emergency helpline, clarify the doubts originated due to rumors etc, and help the devotees.

Local Government

Role of local government is very important, in order to deal with the crowd in such a mass. Being the governing body following are the key responsibilities of local Govt:

• Local Govt.body should establish the safety codes by determining the existing capacity and other essential attributes. These safety measures are abide through laws and enforced by the various allied agencies. • To educate public and get them aware of safety related all relevant facts, should be the priority of local Govt. The devotees, security staff, and temple’s working committee members, all should be well prepared to confront any situation, which pose serious threats to personal safety. • To handle the crowd management, there should be specific Disaster Management Plan/ Crowd Management Planning in place. As per that, exclusive check lists to be prepared for each segment/ entity. Scenario based drills have to be conducted periodically, that will help in checking the existing security & safety mechanism in place and will also help in removal of gaps.

Devotees and Citizens

All the above efforts to deal with Crowd management, is meant for safety and security of devotees and normal citizen. Therefore it is essential for them to follow below mentioned guidelines:

• Devotees should follow the signals and maps displayed over the signboards; they should maintain the queuing system, listen to the announcements, be disciplined and have patience. • Devotees should not go by rumors, in case of panic they should be able to take assistance of helpline available on their way towards temple premises and vise versa. • Citizens should co operate the local Government, Police, Temple Committee members/ volunteers, during drills, trainings, and awareness initiatives through participation and following the safety precautions, as per operating procedures. After all these are meant for their own benefits.

Apart from above guidelines, specific operating procedures with roles and responsibilities have to be prepared for the other important departments/ agencies. Like Fire department should train the committee staff members, to operate the fire extinguishers, same way the Health deptartment should make necessary provisions of providing First Aid services at the appropriate locations, as & when needed.

At the end of it, the planning, coordination, public dealing, presence of mind and patience matters a lot while dealing with the crowd.

Hope this helps.

Ashutosh Madhukar, Institute of Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management, United States of America This is a very significant issue which is often ignored while preparing a community for disaster situations. As an IAEM member I have access to various resources and I'm sharing with you a report which was recently published by the 'UK Resilience Website' on the ‘Understanding Crowd Behaviour’ research report series. http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/220989/guideforreaders.pdf

M. Sarumathy, Rajiv Gandhi National Institue of Youth Development, Sriperumbudur, Tamilnadu

Crowd Management Strategy is an important aspect of disaster management. Considering the stamped death at Varansi today, this is an issue of concern.

In India particularly festival seasons do require to be managed properly.

Article from www.Siffy.com : Woman dies of suffocation, 13 injured in stampede in Varanasi2009-07-22 10:30:00 Varanasi: A woman died of suffocation at the heavily crowded Dasaswamedh ghat here this morning triggering a stampede that left 13 others injured in the holy city where thousands had gathered on the occasion of solar eclipse. District Magistrate Ajay Kumar Upadhaya said an 80-year-old woman collapsed due to the heavy rush of devotees at the ghat while another woman fainted following which people panicked and started running helter-skelter. In the melee, thirteen people were injured, police said. An estimated 60,000-70,000 people had gathered at the ghat to take the dip, they said. The stampede occurred due to the heavy rush of pilgrims at the ghat, DIG P C Meena said. The injured have been rushed to hospitals.

(Avvailable at: http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?a=jhwk4bgfjee&tag=topnews&title=Woman_dies_of_suffocati on,_13_injured_in_stampede_in_Varanasi)

R Sivaram, UNICEF, New Delhi What perhaps is needed a planning well in advance; perhaps more than what is happening;

Good lessons for crowd management could be learnt from

Akshardham temple in Delhi (1) Volunteers are clear and loud in their instructions to the crowd (2) They manage entries - blocking people after say a few thousands or hundreds and then releasing the next not (3) They do not allow unpleasant/suspecious looking people (4) They are able to communicate their messages efficiently to their control room

Pragati Maidan: Excellent example of traffic management during the major exhibitions The chaos that used to prevail has been controlled to a great extent People are not allowed to use the roads and are instructed to walk only on footpaths that itself has allowed traffic to flow smoothly

What unfortunately we will struggle to change is the attitude. Despite repeated warnings to people not toe stare at the sun during solar eclipse, I am sure to find a few cases of damaged eyes tomorrow in the print/electronic media.

But agreed - focused efforts are required

Ashok Kumar Pathak, Development Consultant, Uttar Pradesh I feel some of the following strategies can reduce the vulnerability of stampede deaths particularly in temples: • One-way traffic and controlled entry must be ensured in all the temples/religious places. Permanent grille can be installed to ensure one way traffic, as I have seen in Mansa Devi and Chandi devi dham in , Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Mosque in , Tulja Bhawani temple in Tuljapur, Osmanabad of Maharashtra, Shirdi Sai Baba temple in Shirdi etc. • Security arrangements should be increased during festival season with the help of home guards, MSW students from different colleges and universities, NCC/NSS and Red Cross Volunteers apart from Police personnels. • Crowd control outside the temple premises is very important due to uncontrolled vehicle parking arrangements, Pujan Samagri shopkeepers, lack of basic facilities like water, shed etc. • Creation of more entry and exit points from the premises of temples, which can be used in case of emergency. • If vehicles/special guests due to protocol or animals (as in Maa temple in Katra, ) are allowed, they should have separate points of entry and exit, not on the same paths for the common devotees to lessen the sufferings of the devotees. • Advocacy with faith healers and religious preachers to preach about the crowd management and self control strategies in their sermons. • Crowd management, as a part of disaster management, should be enforced into the school curriculum and training modules of Urban and rural PRIs, Municipalities, administration, NCC/NSS, religious committees of various religious institutions etc. This is already well incorporated in police training curriculum in many states. In Dr. B.R.Ambedkar Police Academy Moradabad (U.P.),there is a special course on Crowd control of 3 days duration for police officials apart from basic trainings, which also include crowd management.

Hope this helps.

Ahana Lakshmi, TRINet Chennai The suggestion talking about crowding and pushing during crowded times by religious heads as well as those who give discourses is a good one. Forced narrow queues are erected specially in many South Indian temples during festivals and perhaps are a good measure. Maybe some ideas can be learnt from managements such as the Devastanam in these aspects.

Bhawna Gupta, University of Sydney, Australia I personally feel that we can reduce the vulnerability of stampede deaths particularly in temples by some of the following ways:

Firstly, considering the religious beliefs and the uneducated population in India, we need to make use of the mass media particularly the use of radio and educate people that festivals are not only the time to visit temples. This may be difficult, but over the period of time will be one of the most effective means to control the crowd at the religious places during the festival time.

There should be separate queue for the males and females and should be separated by using thick ropes. There should be sufficient number of posters at each step of the temple guiding people on their ways to exit in case of emergency.

In between the bhajans going on in the temple premises announcements should be made advising people to be in their queue and about the number and directions of exit in case of emergency.

Video camera's should be installed at the main gates which will help in reducing any confusion among the crowd and also a check on the pandits and will hopefully help to minimize carrying out special 's for people who tend to bribe them during the festival time.

Very strictly and sincerely, it should be seen that no one is allowed out of turn for their darshan to God during the festival time. Special arrangements should be made for the VIP guests. There should be specific amount of fee for using this facility and the same money should be utilized for the welfare of the volunteers working during this time.

The temples should be kept open at all time during the morning and night hours which will significantly help reduce the crowd.

There should be sufficient female police workers to assist the females particularly. There should be special counters where people can be advised about their doubts and can be given some assistance. This can involve both the police as well as female volunteers who should be preferably familiar with the temple boundaries and all the exit gates.

There should be special arrangements made for people for clean drinking water and langar.

Also, it should be seen that the no one is seen begging in the temple premises and people should not be allowed to make huge offerings to God in kind of food. Instead there should be dan patras for the same.

Ray, Sanghamitra Trust, Kolkota Seems interesting, at first we should know the definition of "crowd" as per sociology thereafter; such discussion may bring about some 'result'. Looking forward for more feedback from all.

Ravishwar Sinha, Independent, New Delhi It is indeed pathetic that such tragedies occur on such pious occasions. Thank you for initiating this discussion. The inputs are very informative and educative.

Some submissions are:-

• Increased recognition, planning and funding for the cultural/religious occasions is called for. The KUMBH MELA management where perhaps the largest crowds assemble are worth studying and taking lessons from. There seems, though authorities are not happy admitting this that underestimations are made, which leads to under provisioning and increasing incidences of tragedies makes us all unhappy. A good point is there is a lot of people who want to contribute through voluntary work, resources and mechanisms to optimally use these should be formed and transparent processes evolved to enhance credibility and acceptance. • Redesigning the approach, launching and exits is a must. Many are hundred s of years old and do not cope with the increased demands. Understandably there is a lot of resistance to such moves, however these can be brought about through negotiations and the MA Vaishno Devi trust actions that has resulted in substantial, if I may say dramatic[comparing to pre 70s] improvements is a case in point. Involvement and commitment of the Government and community is a must. • Focusing on VARANASI and The Ganges that flows by , is a religious focal point of nearly billion people around the world. If one looks at the surrounding area, one can only feel that the area surrounding is grossly inadequate. I fully appreciate the sentiments of the residents and commercial entities that inhabit that area and the need to respect them. However,I have full trust in the ability of our engineers,and social leaders to design and develop the area to fully represent the religious sentiments,social and commercial needs . Leadership is the need of the hour. Perhaps that would become the contribution of this generation to the ever lasting holiness of the city.Multilayering is a solution that comes to mind. Resources are rarely an issue take the Akshradham example • The sight of the crowds seeing the 26/11 Mumbai events is very concerning.To save the onlookers the security persons were put to higher risk. THIS SHOULD BE DISCOURAGED AND A SERIOUS BEHAVIOR CHANGE INITIATIVE SHOULD BE UNDERTAKEN. To help, not obstruct should be the motto.Very good examples exist over different communities and socio religious groups of good efficient crowd management and very able and dedicated people who implement them exist who should be recognized and appreciated. • Religious and community level advocacy should devise plans to spread over bigger time frame such religous events so as to disperse the congregations .

Thanks you for the opportunity.

Many thanks to all who contributed to this query!

If you have further information to share on this topic, please send it to Solution Exchange for the Disaster Management Community in India at [email protected] with the subject heading “Re: [se-drm] Query: Crowd Management Strategies - Advice; Experience.. Additional Reply.”

Disclaimer: In posting messages or incorporating these messages into synthesized responses, the UN accepts no responsibility for their veracity or authenticity. Members intending to use or transmit the information contained in these messages should be aware that they are relying on their own judgment.

Copyrighted under Creative Commons License “Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 2.5”. Re-users of this material must cite as their source Solution Exchange as well as the item’s recommender, if relevant, and must share any derivative work with the Solution Exchange Community.

Solution Exchange is a UN initiative for development practitioners in India. For more information please visit www.solutionexchange-un.net.in