HOUSTON --
A brand new process pressure will look into learn how to enhance the security at massive Houston-area occasions within the hopes of avoiding one other tragedy like final yr's lethal Astroworld music pageant, officers mentioned Wednesday.
The duty pressure will evaluation attainable security upgrades, take a look at methods of bettering communication between totally different businesses and departments and make suggestions “to make sure constant operational requirements for future occasions,” Mayor Sylvester Turner mentioned.
Questions have been raised a few attainable lack of coordination between officers who work for the town of Houston and surrounding Harris County, and pageant promoter Dwell Nation over a number of points earlier than the Nov. 5 live performance. Among the many questions have been whether or not there was enough safety and medical personnel and whether or not there was enough coordinated planning for responding to emergency conditions like the huge crowd surge that led to 10 deaths.
“We all know that the town and county can do higher,” Turner mentioned.
The ten individuals who died have been amongst 50,000 who attended the pageant headlined by rapper Travis Scott.
These killed died from compression asphyxia. A medical knowledgeable mentioned the stress from the gang surge was so nice that it rapidly squeezed all of the air from the victims' lungs, inflicting them to move out inside a minute or so and die as a result of crucial organs have been depleted of oxygen.
Those that died ranged in age from 9 to 27 years previous. Roughly 300 individuals have been injured and handled on the scene, and 25 have been taken to hospitals.
Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia mentioned he hopes the duty pressure will assist resolve any fears individuals might need in regards to the security of Houston-area occasions.
“I need this process pressure to resolve issues of oldsters all through our area, that in the event that they're coming to an occasion, whether or not contained in the county or inside the town, that they know that there was an excessive amount of thought put into the security and well-being of all attendees at these respective occasions,” Garcia mentioned.
The duty pressure is ready to satisfy month-to-month, however no date was given for when its members hoped to complete their work.
When requested by reporters how a lot of the duty pressure's work would concentrate on determining what went flawed on the Astroworld pageant and what coordination among the many numerous events wasn't finished, Turner mentioned the group would look to the longer term and never again at anybody occasion. He mentioned the duty pressure wouldn't intervene with the prison investigation of the Astroworld live performance that is being led by Houston police.
Greater than 400 lawsuits have been filed over accidents and deaths on the live performance, together with many towards Dwell Nation and Scott.
Final month, the Texas Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, which is overseen by the Texas Supreme Courtroom, agreed to consolidate the lawsuits and allow them to be dealt with by one decide because the circumstances proceed via the court docket system. The panel hasn't but chosen a decide.
The U.S. Home Oversight and Reform Committee in December introduced it was investigating Dwell Nation's position within the lethal live performance.
Travis Scott performs at Day 1 of the Astroworld Music Pageant at NRG Park in Houston, on Nov. 5, 2021. (Amy Harris / Invision / AP)
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