Perhaps the one thing I wanted to know about the Itaewon Tragedy is whether there was an organised gathering, a festival or a place where people gather together to have fun of their own accord. Meaning did people flock to Itaewon for Halloween because, at the same time, there was an organized event or did they go there because that was the place to celebrate Halloween.

I have to ponder on this question because it will explain why authoritative efforts to control or disperse the crowd were insufficient, late to almost non-existent.

A group of people wanted to have fun. Then, it became more groups of people having fun. A group of people decided to be mischievous in the name of having fun. Another group wanted to have just a little more alcohol to have fun. However, combining the different traits of the group in a packed area, being stuck, one would have no choice but to follow the rhythm. In a way, this tragedy also made me re-learn not to underestimate the power of hypoxia.

Hypoxia – lack of oxygen

Of how people can gasp for air beside you and you might not know. All of a sudden, the person just collapsed because they could not breathe. Honestly, the sight of seeing bystanders trying to perform CPR in the captured videos caught my attention. Of how short life is. One could have just uploaded themselves on social media showing that they’re having a good time. The next minute, you are on the floor with someone pressing on your chest trying to bring you back to life.

Itaewon is a tragedy because no one would expect so many YOUNG PEOPLE to lose their lives by being in a crowd. Dying not from the sharps of a knife or the impact of a bullet but just by being beside another human being with no weapons.