[Itaewon Tragedy] Could It Have Been Prevented... How Do Other Countries Handle It?

Japan deploys personnel throughout streets, repeatedly guiding with loudspeakers
US operates 'car-free roads' to prevent traffic accidents and congestion

On the 29th, two days before Halloween, people are walking on the streets of Shibuya, Tokyo. Behind the crowd, there are notices indicating a ban on drinking in public from the 28th to the 1st of next month.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] On the 29th, more than 300 casualties occurred in the Itaewon Halloween crowd crush accident, highlighting the importance of safety measures for events and festivals with large crowds. In particular, the response of Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, where tens of thousands gathered at the same time as the Itaewon tragedy but no major accidents occurred, is drawing attention.

It is known that up to 1 million people gather in Shibuya during the Halloween period. On the 29th and 30th, just before Halloween, the Shibuya area was so crowded with people enjoying the festival that there was barely any space to step, but no casualties occurred. YouTube live footage filmed on the streets of Shibuya that day shows police officers holding light batons to maintain order and making warning announcements with loudspeakers, deployed not only along the main roads but also in narrow alleys.

Especially at the iconic Shibuya Scramble Crossing, police officers held yellow tapes at the edges of sidewalks and crosswalks to guide people and prevent the crowd from spilling onto the road. A police officer with a loudspeaker repeatedly instructed people, "Please do not stop and move slowly," when the traffic light turned green. Under police control, people moved in an orderly manner to their destinations before the signal changed.

Shibuya Ward also prohibited street drinking around Shibuya Station and parks during the Halloween period and recommended restaurants and convenience stores in the area to refrain from selling alcoholic beverages. This is based on an ordinance enacted since 2019, established in response to repeated incidents of drunken disorder and assaults during Halloween every year.

Access to the site of the 'Halloween crowd' crush accident in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, is being restricted on the morning of the 31st. [Image source=Yonhap News]

What about the United States, which holds grand Halloween festivals every year? According to foreign media such as Bloomberg, New York City controls 100 major streets located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens on Halloween day, October 31, operating them as "car-free streets." Due to a 43% increase in pedestrian traffic accidents during Halloween and the heightened risk of accidents, vehicle traffic is completely banned.

South Korea also has safety management manuals related to festivals and events. In March last year, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety prepared and announced the "Local Festival Safety Management Manual." This manual states that for "local festivals expected to have a maximum instantaneous audience of 1,000 or more during the festival period," the heads of central administrative agencies or local governments must establish safety management plans. It provides detailed explanations of review items and response methods divided by situations such as the start, progress, and end of the festival. This manual was created following an accident on October 3, 2005, when 11 citizens were crushed and 145 injured while entering a concert at the Sangju Citizens' Stadium in Gyeongbuk.

However, the recent Itaewon Halloween tragedy is understood not to fall under the manual's application. This is because, even though a large crowd gathered, there was no clear organizer, and citizens gathered voluntarily. If the organizer cannot be identified, it is practically impossible to have any safety management measures.

The Yongsan Police Station, which has jurisdiction over Itaewon, announced on the 27th, before the tragedy, that it would implement comprehensive security measures to prepare for possible incidents and accidents during the Halloween weekend and deploy about 200 police officers in Itaewon. However, the police measures focused on preventing crimes such as sexual offenses and drugs, and there were no measures for maintaining order in response to large crowds.

The government announced that it will prepare a manual that can be applied even if the organizer cannot be identified. On the 31st, at a briefing related to the Itaewon tragedy held at the Government Sejong Complex, Kim Seong-ho, head of the Disaster Safety Management Headquarters at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "Events without organizers are unprecedented situations, so we did not have related guideline manuals. We will improve management measures this time."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.