Pictures and videos of the events on the bar street of Itaweon in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, quickly spread around the world via traditional and social media.
The footage of the crowd in the narrow street and the attempts to revive the injured deeply shocked many.
Now the South Korean authorities have organized help for citizens shocked by the accident.
Special buses started operating this week, which offer conversational assistance to all those who wish.
– Due to the large amount of image flooding, trauma can spread throughout society, says the professor of psychiatry at Ulsan University Hospital Jun Jin-yong news agency Reuters.
Many of those who have sought conversational help have said that they experienced physical symptoms after the events, for example loss of appetite, insomnia and headaches.
The events of the weekend have also sparked strong criticism of the authorities.
According to Jun Jin-yong, professor of psychiatry, it is natural to blame the authorities when something shocking happens.
– Humans had a natural tendency to look for explanations for disasters and blame them on people or circumstances, says Jun Jin-yong.
On Tuesday, the South Korean police apologized for the events. According to the police, the authorities were poorly prepared for the Halloween weekend.
About 100,000 people had gathered on the narrow bar street in a short time, while there were only a good hundred policemen in the area. When panic broke out, a crowd arose and more than a hundred people were trampled to death.
The police admitted that they had received reports from worried Kanas via the emergency center, but there was no response to the reports.
A sea of flowers filled Seoul
During Tuesday and Wednesday, the streets of Seoul were filled with a sea of flowers as people gathered to mourn those who lost their lives in the weekend tragedy.
The tragedy has shocked the country, especially because in a technologically advanced country like South Korea, accidents involving large numbers of people are rare.
The events of the weekend brought back many memories of 2014. At that time, 300 people died in the sinking of the Sewol ferry, most of them schoolchildren on a class trip.
– I feel depressed. I can’t eat and I have a headache. I feel like I’m reliving my trauma. I remember when the Sewol ferry sank, said a local resident Hwang Jung-soon To Reuters from the middle of a sea of flowers.
The number of foreign victims attracts attention
The world is also talking about the fact that at least 29 of the 156 dead were foreigners.
Assistant professor of Korean studies at the University of Helsinki Andrew Logie assessed to in an email that the events of the weekend are partly reminiscent of the Sewol ferry accident, but the large proportion of foreigners among the victims has drawn special attention to the events internationally.
Itaewon’s bar street has been especially popular among foreigners and young adults.
According to logs, South Korea’s reputation has strengthened in recent years. The country has become familiar to young people in the West, especially thanks to Korean pop music, or k-pop.
– Among other things, as a result, the number of young people and Westerners in South Korea has increased, Logie states.
There are, for example, many European students in the country. In the weekend accident, mostly men and women under 30 years of age were involved.
According to Logie, Europeans are also fascinated by the modernity of the city of Seoul. The city combines modern infrastructure and traditional lifestyle.
For example, Itaweon’s bar street is one example of how modern and old Seoul meet.
– The older areas of Seoul are the undoing of the shantytowns founded by refugees from the Korean War. New neighborhoods have subsequently emerged in these areas, says Logie.
However, there are security risks associated with the former shantytowns, of which the South Korean authorities are well aware.
According to logs, the weekend tragedy occurred because safety planning was weak on Itaweon’s narrow street.
Source: Reuters
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