In October, 400 people in Asia died from crowd-related disasters. Why does Asia experience so many of these incidents and how does it relate to government leadership? And how can you stay safe and protect others in an overpopulated space? Crowd crushes can happen when too many people push into a confined space, above 5 people per square meter. In many Asian countries, regulations around crowds are non-existent unless it’s an officially organized event. Even if officials know that people will gather en masse, no one might take charge of crowd control - and in some cases, it’s the government that makes bad situations deadly. So from assessing the density of a crowd to listening to cries of discomfort around you, here’s how you can stay safe in a crowd.