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Human crush and Information cascade

The Luzhniki disaster was a deadly human crush that took place at the Grand Sports Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow during the 1982–83 UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem on 20 October 1982.

 

Information cascade, a situation in which people make decisions based on choices of other people while disregarding one’s personal information, can sometimes drive positive results, but the Luzhniki disaster is an life-threatening case showing how poisonous the effect of information cascade can be. At the Luzhniki incident, most of fans behaved alike, carelessly entering the already packed stadium. Even though many of them would have perceived that the stadium were excessively congested, the supporters just tried to fit in the stadium because they made decisions based on other people’s actions. This can also be explained by the concept of the herd behavior that is repeatedly observed during a time of danger and terror. The herd behavior explains that, in such extreme situations like Luzhniki disaster, people usually stop acting based on individual rationale and become impulsive. It explains how people overlooked alternative strategies (perhaps, their logical strategies) to follow the mass evacuation trend. The Luzhniki disaster informs people of the potential negative consequences of the information cascade if it goes wrong.

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