Ultra crowd stampede an unfortunate event

The word stampede originally referred to the sudden flight and scattering of horses and cattle. Later, it was applied to the sudden flight or hurried movement of people due to interest or panic. The stampede at the Philsport Arena, formerly known as Ultra, was caused by people who wanted to attend the noontime game show "Wowowee" that is very popular because it gave away as much as P2 million in cash daily. Some people camped outside to ensure that they would be able to attend the show. The early comers did not want to be upstaged by what they considered as the late-comers. That is what caused the rush to the gates which unfortunately escalated into panic that made people stampede through the gate. Seventy-four people were trampled to death. This clearly proves that getting run over by people is as deadly as getting run over by a car. Still, it is an established fact that virtually all crowd deaths are not due to "trampling" as reported by media. If an autopsy is taken of the Ultra stampede victims, it will be established that almost all the fatalities died of compressive asphyxia and not the trampling. Comprehensive asphyxia happens to people who are stacked up vertically, one on top of the other, or horizontal pushing and leaning forces. Asphyxia means absence of pulse and is the term given to the symptoms which result when the action of the heart and lungs is stopped. It is, in short, another name for suffocation resulting from deprivation of oxygen.

Stampedes in musical events happen all over the world. Here is a chronological list of past world stampedes dating back as far as 27 years. In Cincinnati, 11 persons got crushed to death to get into a concert by The Who. In Masery, Lesotho, the police fired tear gas into a crowd trying to force its way into a Steve Kekanz concert. Twenty people were killed. Four people died in Mexico City when 25,000 people waiting for a performance by Timbirche, Flans and Fresas pushed their way into the concert area. In Nashville, Tennessee, two teenagers were trampled to death by a crowd departing from a Public Enemy concert and in Salt Lake City, three teenagers suffered the same fate when the audience at an AC-DC concert rushed to the stage. Eight people died when fans forced their way to get closer to Pearl Jam in an outdoor concert. A worse case happened in a Chicago nightclub in Feb. 17, 2003. Twenty-one people got killed when people stampeded to get out because someone sprayed mace.

The thing is that we must learn how to take preventive measures to avoid another Ultra tragedy. The first thing the investigators should try to establish is: What triggered the stampede at Ultra? Some say that someone cried, "Bomba! Bomba!" If true, then, we have learned that someone crying, "Bomba! Bomba!" in a crowd can do as much damage as an actual bomb threat.

So our problem is not only dealing with terrorists but in handling the way we react to terror. It can begin simply with rumor on fire that causes a paralysis of the soul and triggers the loss of our self-control. Stampede is one of the most senseless manifestations of mass hysteria. We established a world precedent with the EDSA Revolution. The Ultra stampede is a mockery of that Revolution.