Simulating Panic Effect on Crowd Evacuation

Abstract

Panic is a condition in which an individual can arrive suddenly when in its environment different stimuli appear, meaning excitatory factors which may cause a reaction to the body, more or less controlled. This can be amplified by another person or by a group that is subject to the same stimuli, usually transforming it in a violent terror. In this case, the judgment of an individual comes to be dominated only by the primary instinct of survival forgetting about others.

In the category of stimuli that can cause panic are: fires, earthquakes, impossibility to leave a space, various transportation accidents, an outbreak infection etc.

That means that the spaces in which crowded situations appear must be designed so that emergency evacuation, when panic stimuli arise, to occur normally with no injuries or casualties. Such situations can be prevented by sufficient exits properly signposted and calibrated with respect to their maximum capacity and through education. Education is extremely important and must be repeated regularly in order to replace fear with individual judgment. Unfortunately, this is superficially considered by the authorities leaving everything to those who conceive the buildings. Moreover, there are some special buildings that are not taken into account, such as churches, which have only one exit.

Evacuation scenarios can be simulated only by specialised software in which certain parameters, such as stampede, the appearance of human or material obstacles, etc., are difficult to enter.

This paper proposes some ways of adapting the existing software sin order to meet specific requirements, leading to delays in people evacuation in case of panic stimuli.