About Stampede 

• It’s an impulsive mass movement of a crowd that often results in injuries and deaths
• Stampedes in India 
  • Nearly 4,000 stampede events were recorded in last 3 decades. 
  • 3,074 lives were lost in stampedes (2000-2022). 
  • Studies show majority stampedes in India took place in religious gatherings. 

Causes and Triggers for Crowd Disasters

• Human Behaviour
  • Breakdown of Cooperation (Mintz's Theory): In panic situations, cooperation works only until it breaks—once disturbed, it collapses and worsens panic.
  • Craze (Smelser's Theory): He defined "craze" as rush of people, where the pursuit of something gratifying can make crowds act against their own interests.
• Structural casuse: E.g., Blocked exits or evacuation routes or lack of light.
• Management flaws: 
  • Miscommunication: E.g., In Tirupati (2025), people rushed because they mistakenly thought ticket counters had opened.
  • Others: Crowd flow not being divided for different groups, etc.