2007/08/24 by Dirk Helbing, Anders Johansson, Habib Z. Al-Abideen
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.soc-ph #physics.flu-dyn
published as In: The Fifth International Conference on Nonlinear Mechanics (ICNM-V), pp. 967-969 (Shanghai, June 2007) · For a more detailed study see http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0701203
arxiv created 2007/08/24 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
The panic stampede is a serious concern during mass events like soccer championship games. Despite huge numbers of security forces and crowd control measures, hundreds of lives are lost in crowd disasters each year. An analysis of video recordings of the annual pilgrimage in Makkah reveals how high-density crowds develop to turbulent dynamics and earthquake-like eruptions, which is impossible to control.