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Crowd safety in festival season | Vietnam Today
Crowd safety in festival season | Vietnam Today
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0:00
And now, in the focus of this hour, we
0:02
take a closer look at the rapid growth
0:04
of festival crowds around the world, the
0:06
pressures this is creating, and how
0:08
authorities are responding. And now, it
0:11
is true that crowds at major festivals
0:13
are becoming evidently larger than
0:15
before. And for instance, at the recent
0:17
Thailand Songkran Festival, nearly 5
0:20
million people joined the celebrations.
0:21
And well, in Vietnam, the 2026 Huong
0:24
Pagoda Festival welcomed around 140,000
0:27
visitors in its opening days. And so,
0:29
now this begs the question, what is
0:31
driving this surge, and why are
0:34
festivals becoming larger than ever
0:36
before? Well, Phoebe, in many ways, this
0:38
is bound to happen. Now, today,
0:41
festivals are no longer just local
0:43
celebrations. They are becoming major
0:45
economic and social events, and this
0:48
transformation is being driven by
0:50
multiple [music] factors.
0:51
First of all, rapid urbanization is
0:55
concentrating more people into cities.
0:58
Meanwhile, cheaper flights and regional
1:00
travel are making festivals [music] more
1:02
accessible.
1:04
Governments are also promoting festivals
1:06
to boost tourism.
1:08
>> [music]
1:08
>> And at the same time, social media is
1:10
turning local celebrations into global
1:12
attractions.
1:14
But that has proven difficult for
1:15
infrastructure to keep up, as many of
1:18
these events take place in old
1:20
districts, narrow [music] streets, or
1:21
temporary venues. In these environments,
1:24
capacity limits are quickly reached.
1:27
>> [music]
1:27
>> As density increases, pressure also
1:29
builds. In many places, celebration is
1:32
scaling faster [music] than
1:33
infrastructure. And when that imbalance
1:36
grows, the risks can escalate rapidly.
1:40
Now, [music] as festivals expand into
1:43
larger public events, cities are now
1:45
facing growing pressure to manage
1:47
[music] not only attendance, but safety.
1:50
From religious festivals to urban
1:52
celebrations and tourism hotspots, more
1:54
people are gathering in spaces that are
1:57
often not designed for such volumes. And
1:59
as crowd density rises, so does the need
2:02
for stronger safety and measures.
2:08
With tourism surging across many
2:09
destinations,
2:11
authorities are under growing pressure
2:13
to ensure celebrations remain safe.
2:17
Recent crowd disasters have also
2:19
highlighted what can happen when
2:20
overcrowding, limited movement, and poor
2:23
crowd control collide.
2:27
My daughter shouted, "Mother, save me."
2:30
But I could not save her because I was
2:32
stuck in the crowd and she got crushed
2:35
and died.
2:37
As a result, many governments are
2:39
shifting their focus from reactive
2:41
emergency response to prevention.
2:44
In Seoul, officials now use AI-powered
2:47
CCTV systems to monitor crowd density in
2:50
real time.
2:52
In the past, we determined the crowd
2:54
density with our own eyes. However, now
2:56
we are utilizing a crowd-detecting CCTV
2:59
system equipped with artificial
3:01
intelligence video analysis
3:02
capabilities. This helps to reduce human
3:05
judgment errors.
3:09
Vietnam is also adopting similar
3:10
approaches. At this year's Perfume
3:13
Pagoda Festival, AI surveillance systems
3:15
were deployed to maintain safety and
3:17
order.
3:19
Applying information technology and
3:21
deploying surveillance camera systems,
3:23
especially AI, has been one of the
3:25
breakthrough steps in ensuring security
3:28
and public order, while also reducing
3:30
the need for human manpower.
3:33
As festivals continue to expand, the
3:35
challenge is no longer simply attracting
3:37
crowds, but understanding and managing
3:40
them before danger escalates.
3:47
As festivals continue to grow, how
3:49
cities plan and respond will determine
3:51
whether these events remain sustainable
3:54
in the years ahead. And so to delve
3:56
deeper into this, we are now joined by
3:58
Paul Wertheimer, a crowd safety expert
4:01
with decades of experience investigating
4:03
major incidents and advising on event
4:06
management. Mr. Wertheimer, thank you
4:08
for joining us. Now first, from a crowd
4:11
psychology perspective, what are the
4:13
most important principles that cities
4:15
should understand when planning a
4:17
large-scale festivals?
4:22
Well,
4:24
uh communities need to understand that a
4:26
managed crowd is a safe crowd.
4:30
Uh crowds should not be left to their
4:32
own devices. More often than not, it is
4:35
not the crowd that is the problem, but
4:38
the environment in which it is placed.
4:42
And I would point out that live events
4:45
attract different crowd cultures
4:48
with varying values, abilities, and
4:52
expectations.
4:54
So you can't treat
4:56
all crowds the same way.
4:59
You have to understand the culture of
5:02
the crowd for specific types of events,
5:05
whether it's uh
5:06
live entertainment, a concert, a
5:09
festival, a political rally.
5:12
Understanding the crowd
5:14
helps you create a safe environment.
5:18
Yes, and now as festivals grow in size,
5:21
what are the most common mistakes
5:22
authorities make when trying to manage
5:25
crowds?
5:32
Main mistakes include failing to
5:34
recognize uh the common errors that
5:37
trigger
5:39
crowd incidents and disasters,
5:42
uh inappropriate venues, overcrowding,
5:45
standing room environments, poorly
5:48
trained or untrained security or crowd
5:51
managers, no effective emergency plan,
5:55
inappropriate venues
5:58
uh for the type of event that's going to
6:00
occur. That might mean too small, too
6:03
difficult to reach,
6:06
failing to require detailed risk
6:09
assessments, crowd management plans, and
6:12
emergency plans if something goes wrong.
6:16
And now finally, what practical
6:18
strategies can governments adopt to both
6:20
support the expansion of festival and
6:22
ensure public safety in the long term?
6:30
Most importantly, probably, is to
6:32
develop standards and laws
6:35
specifically addressing event crowd
6:38
safety. Most communities where live
6:42
entertainment or special events are in a
6:46
growth period failed to have the
6:48
necessary rules and laws in place to
6:52
protect the public. That needs to be
6:55
codified so that events are consistently
6:59
performed and judged in a consistent
7:02
manner.
7:03
Most crowd disasters
7:06
are preventable. That's the tragedy of
7:09
all of this.
7:10
So, a local community needs to have a
7:13
trained crowd management detail and
7:16
assigns emergency
7:19
decision-making
7:21
to public safety officials, not to the
7:24
promoter and not to the venue operator.
7:27
Because in the end,
7:29
it's government's role to protect the
7:32
public.
7:33
Mr. Wertheimer, thank you for your
7:35
insights.
