The Halloween disaster in Seoul

It would be presumptuous to say that the surge in the teenage crowd on Saturday to mark Halloween celebrations in the congested district of Itaewon in Seoul , the capital city of South Korea, that killed more than 150 and left hundreds more injured was waiting to happen. A small place cannot hold a 100,000 thousand crowd is a simple proposition. Crowded cities, crowded alleys and crowded restaurants and bars have become such a common feature of urban life everywhere in the world, and most of the time crowds just seem to pass by.

But in Itaewon, a moment came when the press of the crowd, people pushing each other and too many people stuck in a small space because they could not move triggers a panic button, and the push and shove leads to stampede and to death and injury. The more than 150 youngsters who died were out in Itaewon to have fun after two years of Covid-19 confinement, and they were not anticipating the horror to unfold. It will remain a traumatic memory for the youngsters who had survived the stampede for the rest of their lives. And it will send the city authorities and the police into a frenzy of remedial measures not to let such a thing happen again. But it will remain a difficult task.

The social history of Itaewon tells a story of nightlife going back to the American soldiers roaming the place with its bars and brothels, and it seems to have remained the symbol of notorious night life even when the local crowds joined in. But over time the place had reinvented itself, becoming a gourmet centre with its multi-cuisine restaurants and it had earned itself the nickname of a foreign country which you could visit without a passport. The crowded alleys and the small eateries seemed to have acquired a charm of their own. The Halloween became a mega event in the compressed space. This should have alerted the city authorities about managing the crowds.

Of course, this would appear to be wisdom of hindsight. But it is not really so. And it is not confined to Itaewon in Seoul. All urban spaces globally face the danger of crowded streets and the danger of stampede. And we have seen this happen in crowded bars, in sports stadia and in places of worship. The solution to avert disaster is a simple one of streamlining the number of people in a restricted space. Of course, it is a solution which is difficult to implement.

The fear that is being expressed in Itaewon by restaurateurs, bar-owners is that this would end their fragile businesses even as they were hoping that the post-Covid period would bring boom times back to the place after a two-year pandemic break. The dream run which was about to begin has ended abruptly with the Saturday mishap.

The youngsters, who have now become the engine for growth in the entertainment economy globally, need larger spaces even as their numbers are growing phenomenally. Though there are countries with ageing demography, most countries have a bulging teenage and twenty-something population, who are looking to have raucous weekends and to spend money. Given the economic importance of the teenagers and their entertainment demands, it is surprising that those involved in the business are not responding to the increase in demand. The congested districts and tiny restaurants and bars cannot meet the demand. Cities need to create spacious entertainment districts on a larger scale. If the cities are small, then they would have to spill over into other cities. It is surprising that the so-called hard-nosed market wizards do not see the need for creating economic zones devoted to entertainment.