Aspects of Patients Injured While Attending Street Rallies in Seoul During the Period of the 2002 World Cup

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: An appropriate emergency medical support system is required at sites of large-scale congregations because different kinds of emergencies may be encountered. My colleagues and I initiated this project to present the information required for the process of devising an onsite plan for large crowds. The basic structure is based on an analysis of patients who were injured while attending large scale street-cheering demonstrations in Seoul during the period of the 2002 World Cup. METHOD: The analysis concentrated on the period from May 31, 2002, to June 30, 2002, during the 2002 Korean-Japan World Cup. Seven soccer games involving the Korean team and 8.91 million people from 116 places were considered. The following report was generated from the supporting schedules and the activity reports of emergency rescue crews from fire departments. It is largely based on rescue activity journals and transportation records. RESULT: There were 796 patients among the in 8.91 million people. Male patients were 383 (42.8%) and female 413 (51.2%). Patients in their 20's were 267, and that was the largest age group. In Korean game against Germany, 183 patients were treated, and that was the largest among the seven games involving Korean's team. There was one patient in every 10,000 people on average. Sicknesses were not that serious, and most of them were headaches, stomachaches and exhaustion. CONCLUSION: The frequency and pattern of generation of patients were affected by the scale of the cheering crowd, the sex and age composition of the crowd, and the weather. In planning future medical support for similar events, the structure of the plan should be based on the site and the size of the crowd, after which the plan can be finalized by considering details such as the importance of the game and the weather.