Criticism of disaster notices that were only "encouraged to return home" at a site paralyzed by crowds = Korea

With 155 people dead and 152 injured in the tragedy in Itaewon, South Korea, a video of some citizens singing and dancing at the rescue site has been released. In response, some criticized that the disaster notice, which could have informed the seriousness of the situation, was not utilized.

According to the National Safety and Disaster Portal on November 1st, between the morning of October 29th and 30th when the accident occurred, the city of Seoul issued disaster notices seven times and the Yongsan District twice.

Notifications are sent based on base station information and can quickly notify people in specific areas of disaster information. However, the disaster notices sent on the day of the incident were limited to requests to "encourage people to return home" and "detour vehicles."

At around 11:56 pm on October 29th, when the accident occurred, the city of Seoul sent out a disaster notice for the first time, saying, "Traffic is currently under control due to an emergency accident in front of the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu. Please take a detour." Considering that the report was received at 10:15 p.m. that day, it means that the disaster notice was sent after at least 1 hour and 41 minutes had passed since the accident occurred.

Yongsan District, a municipality, has been slower to respond. At around 12:11 am on October 30th, Yongsan District issued a disaster notice saying, "Due to an accident in the Hamilton Hotel area of Itaewon Station, the area is under control. Citizens are requested to refrain from visiting Itaewon and take detours." However, nowhere in the notification was there an expression to convey the seriousness of the situation, such as "life loss" or "death."

The Seoul Metropolitan Government and Yongsan District are in the position that such expressions may create a sense of unease, so they expressed them in a euphemistic way.

Many of the victims suffered from cardiac arrest, in which the lungs stopped functioning due to external pressure and the heart stopped, but they died because they could not receive first aid within the prime time. It has been pointed out that rescue would have been smoother if the swarm of people and the resulting traffic congestion had been dissipated by accurately informing the seriousness of the crushing accident in the disaster notice.