Cambodian Bon Om Touk stampede highlights preventable tragedy

E. B. Hsu; F. M. Burkle

doi:10.1017/S1049023X12001057

Cambodian Bon Om Touk stampede highlights preventable tragedy

E. B. Hsu, F. M. Burkle

School of Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

The tragic nature of the human stampede that took place in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on November 22, 2010 claimed the lives of 347 people during the three-day-long Water Festival, known as Bon Om Touk. Described as the greatest tragedy that Cambodia has experienced since the collapse of the Khmer Rouge, the Bon Om Touk stampede ranks among the deadliest human stampede disasters during the past 30 years, a Class IV event exceeding 100 fatalities according to a recently proposed scale. ¹ From the perspective of global health, the event shares many characteristics with preceding major crowd disasters and failures in event planning. It is essential for the international community to officially monitor human stampedes as it does other major disasters. Additional research on human stampedes is needed to improve our collective understanding of the causes of crowd disasters and how best to prevent them. Hsu EB, Burkle FM Jr.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	481-482
Number of pages	2
Journal	Prehospital and disaster medicine
Volume	27
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049023X12001057
State	Published - Oct 1 2012

Keywords

Keywords accidental electrocution
developing country
disaster planning

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Emergency Medicine
Emergency

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10.1017/S1049023X12001057

Cite this

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Cambodian Bon Om Touk stampede highlights preventable tragedy

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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