There have been several incidents in recent years where people died because of unsafe crowd conditions and stampedes(人群的蜂拥), the latest one unfolding in Seoul, South Korea, with at least 155 deaths reported. This may leave some people thinking there’s little you can do to survive a stampede.
The key to staying safe in a crowd begins as soon as you arrive at the location, says Randy Atlas, a safety consultant based in Fort Lauderdale.
If there’s a sudden panic and crowds begin to push in a certain direction, your instinct (本能) may be to fight back and push the opposite way.
As you move forward with the crowd, it’s best to move in a diagonal (对角线的) direction so you can potentially angle your way out of the situation. The goal is to get to the edge of the stampede where it’s less likely that you’ll end up stuck at a choke-point, like a doorway.
In many stampede events, people die simply because they are crushed to the point they can’t breathe. But a possible way to avoid this is to place your arms in front of you, almost in a boxer-like position. That could give you some very valuable breathing room—literally.
| A．Another potential way is to shelter yourself. |
| B．But that could be a big mistake, Atlas warns. |
| C．In this case, you don’t necessarily have to wait and let time slip by. |
| D．Namely, he advises people to take note of where the nearest exits are. |
| E．It’s a simple pose, but surprisingly effective and possibly life-saving. |
| F．Other events, such as a Halloween gathering, are likely to turn deadly. |
| G．Indeed, it’s a frightening situation and circumstances may make it impossible to escape. |
