Stampede

The Inquirer’s front page had a headline quoting survivors of the Tuesday earthquake as saying: “We were lucky it was a holiday.” I can imagine people saying it was “good”—“Buti na lang” in Tagalog, “Maayo na lang” in Cebuano—that it happened on a holiday (thank the Muslims for Eid al Adha), which meant fewer people were in offices and schools.

But when I hear that, I immediately shift into a “what if” mode, and here, it’s “What if the earthquake had happened in Manila, on Monday?” Yes, I’m referring to the Iglesia ni Cristo medical mission that practically paralyzed Metro Manila because it was held in the most crowded transportation hubs in the metropolis.

The fact is that in the provinces of Cebu and Bohol, even if it was a holiday, we did see what could have happened in Metro Manila. I’m referring to the stampedes that occurred in several places because the Department of Social Welfare and Development was issuing payments under the Conditional Cash Transfer (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino) program on that day in several public centers. A four-year-old child was trampled to death in one such stampede in Pinamungahan, Cebu. In Toledo City, a stampede during a CCT activity led to some 20 people being injured.

Disaster risk

There’s so much talk now, even a law, about DRRM (disaster relief and risk management) but we forget that stampedes are disasters, too, which can occur with or without an earthquake. The risks come from our culture which, put simply, includes a love of crowds. Because we are such a densely populated nation, we’ve grown too accustomed to being with lots of people. When my westerner friends see a crowd, they sense danger and turn back. When Filipinos see a crowd of people, they think, “Ay, masaya!”—this looks like fun—and run into the crowd.

There’s the “uzi” mentality at work here (from the word “usisero” or kibitzer, a person who wants to poke into other people’s business). You see that whenever there’s a traffic accident—the gridlock does not necessarily result from the vehicles blocking the road but from all the motorists who just have to slow down and check out what’s happening, as well as the crowd of pedestrians (mainly jobless males) flocking in.

More than the “uzi” mindset is the idea that the crowd is there because of some attraction, maybe an “artista,” a celebrity. Now who can miss out on being able to see the celebrity (and these days, it’s not enough to see your idol, you need to have yourself photographed with him or her, and never mind if the object of adulation is 10 meters away from you)?

Then there’s the idea that the crowd is there because some politician, the government, or, lately, the INC, is giving out free groceries, or T-shirts, or medical services. If indeed there are freebies being distributed, the risks of a disaster are amplified as people push and shove, fearful they won’t get their share.

We greatly underestimate the risks of disasters that come with crowds. I’ve written several times about our problems with the LRT/MRT and, each time, readers will agree about the ordeal, but mainly cite the long lines and waiting times rather than the crowding. In contrast, I’ve had readers who write in and say the crowds are worse in Seoul or in Tokyo’s subways.

No quarrel there, but there’s order in those subways, even staff assigned, in Tokyo, to push people into the subway trains. I shudder to think of what could happen here. What if an earthquake happens? What if some jerk calls out “Bomba!  Bomba!”?  I look around and don’t see exit signs. Then I try to reassure myself that there can’t be a stampede because there’s no space left for it to happen.

Seriously, it can and will happen, with or without an earthquake, with or without a bomb scare. Whether it’s an INC medical mission or the DSWD giving out CCT payments, the organizers should be thinking of the risk of stampedes as part of disaster risk management. The Central Visayas earthquake can be cited to warn people during these events about crowd control, and about not panicking if something adverse happens. The briefings should be more detailed, for example, telling parents to keep watch over their children, and to care first for their children and elderly relatives if there is a need to evacuate. These briefings need to be repeated during any public activity or mass mobilization.

We should learn from organizers of sports events and concerts, who do know about stampedes and employ crowd control personnel, often functioning as well as bouncers to throw out troublemakers. We could have something similar, such as training the barangay tanod  in crowd control—and hoping that they will not be the first to run out when there’s an earthquake.

Culture change

I’ve mentioned that this love of crowds is cultural, which means we need to think now of culture change. We can start with ourselves and our families. It won’t be easy: I already see my children getting excited when they see crowds. It started out with “free taste” booths in groceries, usually for junk food (or, as the writer Michael Pollan calls them, food-like substances). But I see the kids attracted to crowds, too, in Sunday markets, in theme parks. I’ve talked with them and explained that crowds can also be dangerous, mainly because they might get lost. But they’re not quite convinced, growing up Filipino with a love of noise and frenzied activity.

On another front, I do hope the INC and other groups would rethink these medical missions. At the University of the Philippines’ health sciences colleges, we have endless discussions about the limited usefulness of these missions, which really should be limited to disaster relief. The dole activities, like what we saw last Monday in Manila, do little to educate people about healthcare, and often end up being used by private companies who give a few samples of drugs or, worse, useless supplements, knowing that these will pay off by creating a demand from the recipients.

Last Monday’s INC event reinforced the already strong biases among Filipinos against the sect. INC elders should recognize that they will be better remembered through their many progressive programs, in the way they provide schools, housing, and other social services for their members. In the area of healthcare, their money will be better spent for community education programs than through doles.

I will repeat, the risk of a stampede during a medical mission, INC-sponsored or not, is very real. If it happens and lives are lost, people may not be as charitable in saying, “Buti  na  lang…”

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