May 11, 2006

In Pakistan, there have been cases of deadly stampedes in Pakpattan at the shrine of Hazart Baba Fareed Shakarganj and in Sehwan at the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. The most recent one was on April 9 at Faizan-i-Madina, which claimed the lives of 21 women and eight children and caused injuries to 70 others. It occurred at the Daawat-i-Islami headquarters near Old Sabzi Mandi in the late afternoon. According to the report of the Town Police Officer, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, there was no arrangement for first aid, fire-fighting or any means to cope with an emergency at the congregation hall located in the basement of the mosque, writes Faiza Ilyas

The increasing incidence of deaths due to terrorist activities or otherwise have made crowd management a serious concern all over the world. Safety management is important as excessive crowding and poor crowd management can lead to a catastrophe such as a stampede, which can result in heavy casualties. In many cases, such disasters can be avoided or the severity of their impact can be reduced, if the authorities pay special attention to the safety of mass gatherings.

Though stampedes are a global phenomenon, the situation in the Third World countries, where public safety holds little or no importance, is all the more dangerous. In the beginning of this year, dozens of people lost their lives and several were injured in a stampede in Pasig city, Philippines. About 30,000 people were lured into joining the anniversary celebration of a game show as big prizes were being given. Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross, who led the crowd control operation, blamed the poor organisation of the event for the tragedy. Last year, forty-three people were killed in India in a stampede at a government-run flood relief centre.

In Pakistan, there have been cases of deadly stampedes in Pakpattan at the shrine of Hazart Baba Fareed Shakarganj and in Sehwan at the shrine of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. The most recent one was on April 9 at Faizan-i-Madina, which claimed the lives of 21 women and eight children and caused injuries to 70 others. It occurred at the Daawat-i-Islami headquarters near Old Sabzi Mandi in the late afternoon.

According to the report of the Town Police Officer, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, there was no arrangement for first aid, fire-fighting or any means to cope with an emergency at the congregation hall located in the basement of the mosque. The number of devotees attending the event at that time was far greater than the capacity of the mosque.

The stampede occurred after the religious gathering ended and women were coming out of the main hall. In the midst of the rush, a girl fell down at the exit gate. The passing women stopped to pick the girl up but the women coming up from the basement were totally unaware of the incident and did not stop, pushing others before them. Some women fell and that led to a stampede.

The report further stated that there were five exit gates in the mosque but only three were used for entry and exit, one of them being specifically for women. Also, only one gate was used to enter and exit the basement hall. Keeping in mind that it was Eid Milad-un-Nabi and 15,000 devotees were present, leaving only one gate for entrance or exit was insufficient. The TPO report also states that there was no particular instance to motivate or flare up the emotions of the assembly of ladies.

This statement as well as the reports printed in the Press leave no doubt that both the mosque authorities and the city government are equally responsible for this tragic incident. The mosque authorities failed to take any preventive measures that could have considerably reduced the impact of the devastating tragedy and saved many precious lives.

 The city government, on the other hand, doesn’t have an effective system in place that can ensure public safety at large gatherings. It also failed to address the concerns of the Daawat-i-Islami when the construction of the Askari Park started two years ago and two of the gates were closed permanently. A decision pending in the court on the religious organisation’s petition against the city government shows how the public suffers when justice is delayed.

A visit to different places where religious congregations take place, especially for women, revealed that the organisers are more concerned about purdah rather than the safety of women and children.

For instance, in Faizan-i-Madina’s case the huge basement area where the women congregate has insufficient ventilation and light. Considering the fact that a large number of women were attending the programme on a hot and humid summer day, one can well imagine their impatience to leave the place immediately at the conclusion of the prayers.

A few of the survivors this scribe talked to said that they don’t know what exactly caused the stampede. There was chaos, panic and every woman was pushing her way out of the premises. A girl, who along with her heart-patient mother, was attending the congregation said that the condition of her mother deteriorated when she saw a woman desperately shouting and crying for help in the stampede. She tried to stop her mother from watching that woman, but she couldn’t recover and had a fatal heart attack.

These surviving women denied reports that a tent erected inside the mosque premises fell which caused the deaths of many from suffocation. They also rejected the reports that rescue workers were initially stopped from shifting the injured to hospitals and claimed that no hindrance was created in their work.

Complaining about the apathetic attitude of the government, they said none of them has as yet received any compensation from the government and all the expenses for their treatment were borne by their organisation.

However, contradicting their claim about the hindrances in the rescue work, Rizwan Edhi said: “Usually, the mosque authorities send us a letter prior to the gathering at Faizan-i-Madina and we remain alert. But, this time they didn’t. However, the Edhi Centre on University Road is located near Faizan-i-Madina and three of our ambulances got there within minutes of the incident, followed by 47 more from different locations.”

He claimed that the rescue work was indeed delayed by pardah concerns and some of the security staff posted at the Faizan-i-Madina pointed their guns at the rescue workers.

The delay in treatment in such critical hours can prove fatal as oxygen deprivation for three minutes can cause brain death, he said.

When asked about hindrances, the Edhi workers generally face in any rescue operation, he said that traffic has become a major obstacle. One and a half years ago, a woman delivered her baby in a van that got stuck in a traffic jam. Besides, the aggressive behaviour of the people towards relief services is unreasonable.

Edhi stressed the need for a disaster management cell that can well cater to the needs of this sprawling city in case of any eventuality. Civil defence training is the need of the hour.

 One major step through which the government can minimise the loss of life and property in the face of natural disaster, terrorist activities and war emergency, is to activate the Civil Defence Department on modern lines. This measure would also reduce the government expenditures which occur in the aftermath of the incident on treatment and other steps for rehabilitation.

It is unfortunate that the devastating earthquake of October 8, which claimed about 100,000 lives in the Northern areas, could not evoke sincere efforts on the part of the government to train people in the concerned departments to cope with emergency situations, and to take action against those involved in violating building rules and regulations.

Emergency culture is completely non-existent in Karachi. Experts say that a population of 20,000 requires a rescue team of at least 78 workers of the same locality to deal with any emergency situation, which in Karachi’s case would be 150,000. The reality is that the city does not even have 200 rescue workers. In foreign countries, no organisation or individual can hold a gathering without taking an NOC from the fire brigade department.

Here, there is no defined rule for a mass gathering. People hold big gatherings in mosques as well as in its adjoining lanes by blocking the roads on the pretext that it’s a Friday jamaat,’ City Chief Fire Officer Kazim Ali said when asked about the role of the fire brigade department in case of an emergency.

Categorically denying the assertion that the department staff often arrives late at the site of the incident, Ali said that the fire staff is usually belatedly informed about the incident, and the staff is on its way within a minute upon receiving the information.

Responding to the query that the department has only one snorkel which can reach up to seven or eight floors of a building in a city which has structures as high as thirteen to sixteen storeys, he replied that this was true and the department has ordered two more snorkels with a longer reach which will be available in eight months.

However, he said that an efficient civil defence system requires more emphasis on preventive rather than rescue measures. That means designing and building public-friendly structures, with proper fire alarm and fire fighting system and training of the occupants on how to handle an emergency. Since no such system exists in the country, casualties are very high in case of a disaster. As far as the common man is concerned, he does not even know the telephone number of the fire control room which he needs to call in case of an emergency situation, which is 16,” observed Ali.

About the obstacles the fire staff face during a rescue operation, he said in developed countries, the authorities create a balance between security and safety because the principle is that when security is increased by closing routes and erecting barricades, safety is adversely affected.

Therefore, police stations are in direct proportion to the fire stations in terms of numbers. But, here we have 140 police stations in the city as compared to 20 fire stations. Rescue operations are greatly hindered by blocked routes and enraged mobs that take out their anger at the relief services being provided to them. ”

He also pointed out that contrary to the security and safety arrangements for the Muharram processions when boy scouts, medical staff and ambulances are present in large numbers, no such preventive measures are taken for the Eid Milad-un-Nabi processions.

Elaborating on the role of the fire brigade department, he said that the job of the department, which had been renamed as the fire and rescue department in 2001, was not only to perform rescue work in case of a fire, but also to provide help in dealing with chemical waste, building collapses and road accidents.

“Everyday the control room of the fire department in the Civic Centre receives 15 to 20 rescue calls from different parts of the city. Public awareness and training is the most important component of civil defence. Before any emergency service arrives at the site of the incident it is the public who deals with the situation. Therefore, their training in first aid, fire fighting and rescue work is mandatory. According to the rules, each town should have a warden service to work in a crisis situation, but nobody is bothered to implement this rule,” he pointed out.

It may be mentioned here that the civil defence department in Karachi has not yet been devolved to the city government. The instructors, who are supposed to be training the people in civil defence, have assumed the job of inspectors collecting money from shopkeepers and other retail and wholesale outlets in the name of inspecting fire fighting equipment to issue fire fitness certificates.
 

Mina tragedies

According to some estimates, stampedes, fires and demonstrations have claimed around 3,000 lives during Haj in the last 20 years. Notwithstanding the efforts of the Saudi government to make the annual pilgrimage safe during the season, which draws millions of Muslims from all over the world, it has been going through disasters in recent years. Pilgrimage today faces a serious threat from terrorists also and the overall situation demands a far better crowd management and security umbrella than are currently in existence. Three hundred and forty-five pilgrims were killed this year at the stoning site; 251 were trampled to death in a 27-minute stampede during the stoning ritual in 2004. However, the worst incident took place in 1990 when a stampede in a tunnel in Makkah killed 1,426 pilgrims, many of them Malaysians, Indonesians and Pakistanis. It has been observed that the ritual at Jamarat Bridge—in which stones are hurled at pillars representing the devil— is usually the most dangerous rite during Haj. Thousands of pilgrims converge around the pillars to cast their stones before beginning the feast of Eid-ul-Azha. The main problem here is that the approach to the site is too narrow for the massive rush of pilgrims who must finish performing the ritual before sunset. With initiatives the Saudi authorities are taking to ensure a smoother and safer human passage including a major redesign plan for the site at the Jamarat in Mina, a lot more needs to be done. For instance, an area of concern is the increasing number of pilgrims every year. The Haj pilgrimage, which used to be a once-in-a-lifetime event, is now undertaken by some almost every year. Muslim countries should adopt a pragmatic approach on this issue. Many feel that the real tragedy is people’s poor behaviour. The strong in the mammoth mass of people from different cultures and attitudes, push their way through the crowd with little regard for the weak, young and the elderly. On the Haj stampede phenomenon, Rehan Yasin, Director Administration, Alamgir Welfare Trust, which made Haj arrangements for 4,000 people last year, said: “Stampedes at such a massive gathering are unavoidable. However, its impact can be minimised by providing better facilities and educating and training people. Besides, those who are strong and careless about the weak, and people who come from remote areas, are also troublesome as they are not literate. It is hard to make them understand that the pillars at the bridge in Mina only represent the devil and are not the actual devil. Therefore, many are found abusing and throwing their shoes at the pillar. The pilgrims are told to move with the flow even if they have lost their way.” — F.I.

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