Health Care : Current Reviews

Emergency services and healthcare preparedness for religious mass gatherings-challenges in India

3^rd Indo-Global Summit & Expo on Healthcare

October 05-07, 2015 New Delhi, India

Faisel T Illiyas

Institute of Land and Disaster Management, India

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: Health Care: Current Reviews

Abstract:

Mass gatherings during religious festivals are becoming increasingly the loci of crowd disasters. On analyzing the casualty figures from the year 2000, it was found that human stampedes caused 2293 deaths in India. A study on crowd disasters in India by Illiyas et al in 2013 has revealed that religious gatherings have been the venues for 79% of human stampedes in India. Emergency preparedness of mass gathering safety in India is a major challenge. The physical composition of religious gatherings makes them more vulnerable to human stampedes. Festivals attract large crowds comprised of children, youth, the middle aged and older people to vulnerable locations like hill tops, valleys or river banks. Many of the religious sites are located at remote places where infrastructure and medical facilities are very limited. Persistent hazards at the venues are usually neglected and the gatherings continue to be held at the same places. As a result, stampedes recur at the same place over different intervals. Event organizers have primary responsibility in ensuring safety of a mass gathering event. Effective planning is required at the administrative level to coordinate event organizers, service departments, emergency response agencies etc. This paper analyses recent religious mass gatherings in India and the emergency preparedness measures implemented to deal with mass emergencies.

Biography :

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