Around 197 people (at the time of posting) have been killed in a temple stampede in Jodhpur that is being billed as one of the worst of its kind. The stampede occurred in the male section of the devotees who had gathered at the temple for the Navratri festival. Per reports, some devotees slipped on a slope and fell which triggered this stampede. [TOI]
This brings up an important question: given the sheer number of devotees at temples in India particularly in festive seasons, are such stampedes uncontrollable if they start? Short of turning away devotees from temples, which in itself could trigger such incidents, how can such incidents be avoided or at least their impacts reduced in the future? Perhaps the only American equivalent to crowds at Indian temples would be Walt Disney parks during peak season. Most rides at Disney parks have a system whereby you can reserve a time slot for the ride (for instance, between 2:05pm and 3:05pm). If you show up at the allocated time, you can pretty much bypass the crowd of people in line for the rides. Should Indian temples resort to similar practices to prevent such stampedes in the future? What do you think?
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