Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) yesterday called on the Ministry of the Interior to create new safety guidelines for spontaneous mass gatherings, four days after a stampede at a Halloween street party in South Korea killed 156 people.
The Seoul crush occurred because no one managed the crowd, as an unexpectedly large number of people gathered at venues in the capital’s Itaewon area after the city lifted its COVID-19 mask requirements, Huang told a news conference at the legislature in Taipei.
Taiwan must think ahead to minimize public safety risks as health authorities begin to phase out COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, which could result in large crowds gathering in areas to celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Eve, he said.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
The Ministry of the Interior drafted Taiwan’s safety guidelines for large-scale events in the wake of a fire at a New Taipei City water park in 2015 that killed 15 people and injured 508, he said.
The guidelines do not have provisions for spontaneously occurring mass events or offer specific instructions for local authorities to enforce safety rules, he said.
A review of city and county ordinances shows that only two of Taiwan’s 22 jurisdictions have established safety standards for mass gatherings and promulgated penalties for noncompliance, while four jurisdictions have established standards, but not penalties, he said.
Sixteen jurisdictions have established no regulations whatsoever to protect the public from the hazards of mass gatherings, he said.
Mechanisms are needed to prevent overcrowding before crowd density exceeds the safety threshold of six people per square meter, said Chang Kuo-sung (張國頌), president of the Taiwan Association of Emergency Medical Services at Mass Gatherings.
The National Fire Agency has the authority to redirect or disperse mass gatherings, while the organizers of some events must apply for a permit from the local government, agency fire prevention section official Shen Yi-che (沈義哲) said.
Local police usually have well-developed plans to deal with large gatherings linked to temple events or popular tourist sites, National Police Agency public safety division chief Lin Hsin-hsiung (林信雄) said.
Such plans typically include traffic controls at key points and evacuation procedures, he added.
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