an analysis the overcrowding in mina
TRANSCRIPT
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
"An analysis of the overcrowding in Mina"
By
Mohammed Eidan Al-Ghamdi
Supervision
Dr. MAMOON MIRZA
12/2/2015
2
CONTENTS
Abstract............................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................................4
Methodology....................................................................................................................................................5
Findings............................................................................................................................................................6
Discussion .......................................................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................................10
Reference.........................................................................................................................................................11
Appendix A– Questionnaire............................................................................................................................12
Appendix B– Questionnaire............................................................................................................................14
Appendix C– Questionnaire............................................................................................................................15
Appendix D– Questionnaire............................................................................................................................19
3
An analysis of the overcrowding in Mina
ABSTRACT
The objective of this study was the overcrowding happened in Hajj which is cause a large number of victims
especially in Mina. The aim of this research is to find out the best ways to get rid of overcrowding in the Hajj
without loss of life. There is questionnaire contain 20 questions was given to the students of KAU and the
participants are 71 people, 50 of them male and 20 female. The results showed that the most of the mistakes
because of pilgrims not the Ministry of Hajj and the need to educate pilgrims from abroad who do not know a
lot about the regular way to do Hajj. The recommendation for like this research write is, reading books
containing Hajj problems and watch the news and the latest act of the Ministry of Hajj.
4
INTRODUCTION
The Hajj, It is one of the largest annual pilgrimages in the world and it is the fifth pillar of Islam. a religious
duty that must do the Hajj at least once in their lifetime. The Hajj is the longest worship in Islam, and must do
it in a certain time.
"The pilgrimage occurs from the 8th to 12th day of Dhu al-Hijjah, the 12th and last month of the Islamic
calendar"( Reynolds Gabriel Said, 2012).
"hundreds of thousands and millions Pilgrims join doing Hajj even if it is hard"(seeing by Arab News). The
Hajj briefly is: Each person walks seven times around the Kaaba, it is the building which as the Muslim’s
direction of prayer after that they runs between the hills of Al-Safa and Al-Marwah, then drinks from the
Zamzam water Well then go to the Mount Arafat to stand in vigil, and throws stones in mina. Finally the
pilgrims then shave their heads, perform a ritual of animal sacrifice, and celebrate the feast Al-Adha.
"The pilgrim numbers have greatly increased recently, which has led to numerous accidents and deaths due to
overcrowding. The first major accident during Hajj in modern times occurred in 1990,when a tunnel stampede
led to the death of 1,462 people."(Prof. A. K. John Alias Al-Dayran, 2012).
"Stampede at the stoning ritual happened, on July 2, 1990 1426 pilgrims died because of a stampede in a
tunnel in Mina after a malfunction in the ventilation system, and On March 5, 2001 35 pilgrims died in a
stampede during the stoning ritual, and in the February 11, 2003 14 pilgrims died in a stampede during the
stoning ritual, and in the February 1, 2004 251 pilgrims died in a stampede during the stoning ritual, On
January 22, 20 053 pilgrims died during the stoning ritual, On January 12, 2006 364 pilgrims died"( seeing by
RT Arabic news).
Also in this year 2015, "a stampede resulted at least 1,470 deaths of pilgrims in Mina"( seeing by Wikipedia).
Due to the huge numbers of from the deaths because the overcrowding, so this subject is an important to be
searched and find solutions for this problem. Most of overcrowding cases that occurs in the pilgrimage
existing in Mina because the number of pilgrims is more than one million even most of the days staying in
Mina, so the proportion to get cases of overcrowding in Mina will be very large. The research questions were
as follows:
RQ1_What is the reason of overcrowding of pilgrims in Mina ?
RQ2_What are the implications of this overcrowding ?
RQ3_What are the ways to organize Hajj easily without lost of life ?
5
METHODOLOGY
In my research "An analysis the overcrowding in Mina" the data was collected by questionnaire.
The questionnaire contains 20 questions, which 11 question of yes and no questions and 9 multi-choice
questions. it Has been done two types of questionnaire: hardcopy and softcopy, the hard copy was given to 31
person and the soft copy was given to 40 person. This questionnaire was distributed to some friends and
students of King Abdul-Aziz University and number of participants in the survey were 71 people and 50 of
them male and 20 female. It was done on the EXCEL program, which is easy to calculate the number of
answers by using formulas.
Finally it took one week to collect the hard copy of questionnaire but the softcopy just took 3 hours because it
has been done on Google forms which is very easy because it put the answers on EXCEL program directly.
6
FINDINGS
First RQ: What is the reason of overcrowding of pilgrims in Mina ?
The reason of overcrowding in Hajj
Pilgrims who do Hajj without permit
In figure 1 I asked people about the reason causing overcrowding it's because the pilgrims didn't follow the
instructions. Most of them agree with this reason so the most mistakes because the pilgrims didn't follow the
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
agree not agree
The overcrowding happened in Hajj because the pilgrims didn't
follow the instructios ?
Figure 1
agree
not agree
%70
%30
Pilgrims without a permit are the min reason causing
overcrowding
Figure 2
7
instructions not the Hajj Management. Also there is another reason in figure 2 you can see I asked about the
min reason of overcrowding is the pilgrims who do Hajj without a permit. Mostly agree with that because the
pilgrims without a permit they don’t have housing to sleep so they sleep on the street causing overcrowding.
Second RQ: What are the implications of this overcrowding ?
The ages dying in the overcrowding
In this scheme I asked about the what is most ages die cause of overcrowding. You can see that in the graph
the highest point is old people going downward in the middle to men then to the least point to youth. After
that the line goes upper to children between the highest point and the middle.
Third RQ: What are the ways to organize Hajj easily without lost of life ?
The best idea to educate the pilgrims who do not know the regular way to do Hajj
old pepole Men
Youth
Children
%42
%19
%5
%33
Most of ages die cause of overcrowding , are ?
Figure 3
0% 20%
40% 60%
80%
Show them a short video represents a systemic way for Hajj
Give them booklets
COURSES
INSTRUCTIONS
Showing them the sanctions on them and intimidate them with punishment
What do you see as a best way to educate pilgrims from abroad who do not know a lot about the regular way to do
Hajj ?
Figure 4
8
.
Give the pilgrims test to be sure they relay know the system
..
The punishment for who do not follow the instructions.
The third question I am looking for the solution for this problem. In figure four I asked about the best way to
educate pilgrims from abroad who do not know a lot about the regular way to do Hajj because if they do not
know the system they might cause overcrowding and best way is Show them a short video represents a
systemic way for Hajj After that give them booklet. In figure five I asked if we have to give them a test about
systemic way for Hajj just to be sure because maybe they not interested about the videos or the booklet so the
answer is most of people agree to give them a test. Finally in figure six I asked what if we punish the pilgrims
who do not follow the rules because they might passed the test but they do not care about regular way to do
Hajj. The answer of figure six is there are a very few number(The yellow trumpet) said do not do anything
with them but mostly they agree with the punish. Who agree with the punish most of them said the punish is
make him or her pay a fine(The white trumpet) and the rest of them said prevent them to do Hajj again for ten
years(The blue trumpet).
Agree %77
Not agree %23
After knowing the system. Do you see that we should give them a simple test to make sure of their
understanding and their pledge to abide by the system ?
Figure 5
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Make him or her pay a fine
Can not perform the Hajj again for ten years
Do not do anything
What we have to do with pilgrims who do not follow the rules and come out at a time is not
their time ?
Figure 6
9
DISCUSSION
In this research the overcrowding in the Hajj is one of the biggest problems of pilgrimage because it
threatens their lives. Will present the most cases cause overcrowding and discussed the findings we had and
explain the reasons and the effects.
The Ministry of Hajj did a lot for the pilgrims to make doing Hajj easily. The most of overcrowding cases
that occurs in the pilgrimage existing in Mina because the number of pilgrims is more than one million even
most of the days staying in Mina, so the proportion to get cases of overcrowding in Mina will be very large
and we can not expand the roads and bridges outside Mina area because there are border mentioned in Islam
for the Mina and Muslims must performance worship within it, So you must solve the problem from the
inside. In first overcrowding happened, "on July 2, 1990 1426 pilgrims died because of a stampede in a tunnel
in Mina after a malfunction in the ventilation system"( seeing by RT Arabic news). Now the Ministry of Hajj
fixed that problem and they built bridge and a lot of ventilation to control the air temperature and Train to
transport pilgrims and whatever takes to make it easily.
RQ1_What is the reason of overcrowding of pilgrims in Mina ?
As we have seen in the findings that most of the mistakes because of pilgrims not the Ministry of Hajj, so we
must solve the problem now, on the one hand pilgrims in the way of doing the Hajj. The Ministry have
divided the pilgrims Into groups and they have written schedule and specific times for each group to get out
and back to prevent overcrowding, but some pilgrims did not follow the instructions, such as what happened
this year. In this year 2015, "a stampede resulted at least 1,470 deaths of pilgrims in Mina"( seeing by
Wikipedia). Also there some Pilgrims go to Hajj without a permit try to avoid checkpoints and go through the
mountains and off-road and that’s really big deal because these pilgrims go to the holy sites to perform the
Hajj without being affiliated with a systematic campaign to serve them and provide them with overnight
camps, so they sleeps on the street and this phenomenon is called "Alafterash". The Alafterash cause harm and
impeding the movement of pilgrims and the movement of service providers for the pilgrims, Such as
ambulances, civil defense and others. The reason for the emergence of this phenomenon to an individual by
the actions of the pilgrimage in an irregular manner but Since the adoption of the pilgrimage permit, "the
Interior Ministry has taken several measures to deal with the situation and the reduction of the presence of the
pilgrims irregular, for example, introduced a security points at the entrances to Mecca and the holy sites, it has
also been published many cameras sophisticated surveillance, along with the use of aircraft to monitor the
roads and mountains in remote areas, as well as having many periodicals"( Turki Al-Ghamdi of Riyadh news).
RQ2_What are the implications of this overcrowding ?
The effects of this overcrowding is the death of pilgrims and injured some of them, which requires a large
number of the ambulance to take the injured to the hospital as soon as possible, but there is difficulty in the
movement of ambulances because of the bodies on the road and the large number of pilgrims who walk on the
01
streets. Most of age that die as seen in the graph are the elderly and children, and after them, men and young
people.
I would advise anyone who wants to write of such as this research. Reading books containing Hajj problems
and watch the news and the latest act of the Ministry of Hajj.
CONCLUSION
Now we can see the most mistakes because the pilgrims didn't follow the instructions or they do not know
about the instructions especially the pilgrims from abroad who do not know a lot about the regular way to do
Hajj.
RQ3_What are the ways to organize Hajj easily without lost of life ?
So I have proposed several ways to educate them in the questionnaire and the highest result is "Show them a
short video represents a systemic way for Hajj" but they may it be will not be interested about the videos or
whatever we give theme but what if we give them a simple test about the systemic way to do Hajj to be sure. I
asked people if we have to give them a test and the answer like in the result is most of theme agree with that.
Ok after educate the pilgrims what someone did not follow the rules, do we have to punish the pilgrims who
do not follow the rules, I also asked people about that and there are a very few number said do not do anything
with them but mostly they agree with the punish. After that I asked who are agree with the punish "what the
punish have to be" most of them said make them pay a fine and the rest of them said prevent them to do Hajj
again for ten years.
00
REFERENCES
Reynolds Gabriel Said, (2012) the pilgrimage to mecca.
Prof. A. K. John Alias Al-Dayran, (2012) PILGRIMAGE
— HAJJ —The Fifth High Grade of At-Taqwa.
RT Arabic news site upon which "TV - Novosti" Foundation. https://arabic.rt.com/ .
Wikipedia - is a multilingual, web-based, free-content encyclopedia project supported by the Wikimedia
Foundation and based on a model of openly editable content. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page .
Turki Al-Ghamdi of Riyadh news - http://www.alriyadh.com/1084784 .
02
Appendix A– Questionnaire
Hi, I'm Mohammed Alghamdi from Jeddah I'm studying in KAU and I'm doing research about the
overcrowding in Mina. I need your opinion by answering these questions it will help me with my research.
Thank you
Q1: The overcrowding happened in Hajj because the pilgrims didn't follow the instruction ?
Agree Not agree
Q2: The overcrowding happened in Hajj because Mina region is small?
Agree Not agree
Q3: The overcrowding happened in Hajj because the huge number of pilgrims ?
Agree Not agree
Q4:If you want to do Hajj you must to pay for housing and do it once time in 5 years. What do you think ?
Agree Not agree
Q5: You cannot do Hajj only once every 5 years, What if we extended this duration Do you think it will be
useful ?
Agree Not agree
Q6:if you agree with Q5, What do you think will be the percentage of improvement?
0% 5% 25% 35% 50% 70% 90%
Q7: There are a certain number of people from each country are allowed to pilgrimage. What if we have
reduced that number. Do you think as a successful way to control overcrowding?
Agree Not agree
Q8: What do you think the most of ages die cause of overcrowding, are?
Elderly Men Youth Children
Q9: Hajj management divides pilgrims in groups and each group has a certain time to get out. What we have
to do with those who do not follow the rules and come out at a time is not their time?
Make them Pay a fine Cannot perform Hajj again for 10 years Do not do anything with them
Q10: Who make pilgrimages without (permit), They are the main reason causing overcrowding:
Agree Not agree
Q11:Saudi Arabia has done so much to serve the pilgrims, But most of mistakes are because of the pilgrims. Is
that:
03
True or false
Q12: What do you see as a best way to educate pilgrims from abroad who do not know a lot about the
regular way to do Hajj?
Showing them a short video represents Regular way to do Hajj Give them a booklets
Other( )
Q13: After knowing the system. Do you see that we should give them a simple test to make sure of their
understanding and their pledge to abide by the system?
Agree Not agree
Q14: In general your estimate for the Hajj in terms of service and system and eating and sleeping?
Excellent Good Acceptable not acceptable
Some questions about you:
Q1:What is your gender ?
Female Male
Q2:How old are you ?
Less than 18 18-25 26-35 36-50 more than 51
Q3: what is your educational level ?
School education College education
Q4:what is your occupation ?
Student engineer other( )
Q5: Did you do Hajj before ?
yes No
Q6: Have you encountered overcrowding before?
yes No
04
Appendix B – Data Tabulation
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
2 2 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 6 1 1 2 1 1
2 5 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1
1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 3 1 4 1 1,4 1 2 1
2 5 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1,4 2 2 2
2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 7 1 1 1 1 1
1 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1
2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 1 6 1 1 1 1 1
1 4 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 7 1 1,2,3,4 1 1 1
1 5 2 4 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 5 1 1 2 1 1
1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 1,2,3 1 1 2
2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1
2 1 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1,2 1 1 1
2 2 2 6 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 4 1 1 1 1 1
1 4 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 2 1,2 1 1 5
2 3 2 3 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 6 1 1,4 1 1 1
1 3 2 6 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 6 1 1,4 1 1 1
2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 6 1 2 2 1 1
2 3 2 6 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 6 1 1,4 1 1 3
2 3 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 1 7 1 2 1 2 1
2 3 2 6 2 2 1 2 2 3 1 3 1 1,2,3,4 3 1 1
2 4 2 5 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1,2 1 1 1
2 4 2 5 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1,2 1 1 1
2 4 2 4 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 6 1 1,4 1 1 2
1 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 4
1 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 7 1 1 1 1 1
2 3 2 6 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 4 1 1,4 1 1 1
2 3 2 5 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 7 1 1 1 1 1
1 3 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 1 2 1 2 1,4 3 2 1
1 3 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 1 1 5 1 1,4 2 2 1
2 5 1 6 1 2 1 2 1 3 1 5 2 1 2 2 1
05
Appendix C – Calculations
Answer key 1 2
1 male 50 71% 15-18 4 6%
2 female 20 29% 19-25 28 40%
3 26-35 19 27%
4 36-50 15 21%
5 More than 51 4 6%
6
7
Blank 0 0% 0 0%
Total 70 100% 70 100%
3 4
School 10 14% Engineer 13 20%
College 60 86% Student 23 35%
Unemployed 2 3%
self employed 2 3%
employee 20 30%
Housewife 6 9%
0 0% 4 0%
70 100% 66 100%
06
7 8
agree 63 90% agree 15 21%
not agree 7 10%
not agree 55 79%
0 0% 0 0%
70 100% 70 100%
5 6
yes 39 56% yes 20 29%
No 31 44% no 50 71%
0 0% 0 0%
70 100% 70 100%
9 10
agree 37 53% I agree with these conditions 51 73%
not agree 33 47% I do not agree these conditions 8 11%
I agree with some of these conditions 11 16%
0 0% 0 0%
70 100% 70 100%
07
11 12
yes 34 49% 0% 26 37%
no 36 51% 5% 2 3%
25% 4 6%
35% 10 14%
50% 6 9%
70% 13 19%
90% 9 13%
0 0% 0 0%
70 100% 70 100%
13 14
agree 49 70% old people 31 42%
not agree 21 30% Men 14 19%
Youth 4 5%
Children 24 33%
0 0% 0 0%
70 100% 73 100%
15
Make him or her pay a fine 45 64%
Cannot perform the Hajj again for ten years 18 26%
Do not do anything 7 10%
0 0%
70 100%
08
16
Right 58 83%
Wrong 12 17%
0 0%
70 100%
17
Show them a short video represents a systemic way for Hajj 53 76%
Give them booklets 10 14%
COURSES 2 3%
INSTRUCTIONS 4 6%
Showing them the sanctions on them and intimidate them with punishment 1 1%
0 0%
70 100%
18
agree 54 77%
not agree 16 23%
0 0%
70 100%
09
Appendix D- All Graphs
71%
29%
What is your gender ?
male
female
%6
%40
%27
%21
%6
How old are you ?
15-18
19-25
26-35
36-50
More than 51
%14
%86
School College
What is your educational level ?
21
20%
35%
3% 3%
30%
9%
What is your occupation ?
Engineer
Student
Unemployed
self employed
employee
Housewife
0 10 20 30 40
56%
44%
Did you do Hajj before ?
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
agree not agree
The overcrowding happened in Hajj because the pilgrims didn't follow the instructios ?
20
agree
not agree
70%
30%
Pilgrims without a permit are the min reason causing overcrowding
old pepole Men
Youth
Children
%42
%19
%5 %33
Most of ages die cause of overcrowding , are ?
22
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Show them a short video represents a systemic way for Hajj
Give them booklets
COURSES
INSTRUCTIONS
Showing them the sanctions on them and intimidate them with punishment
What do you see as a best way to educate pilgrims from abroad who do not know a lot about the regular way to do Hajj ?
Agree %77
Not agree %23
After knowing the system. Do you see that we should give them a simple test to make
sure of their understanding and their pledge to abide by the system ?
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Make him or her pay a fine
Can not perform the Hajj again for ten years
Do not do anything
What we have to do with pilgrims who do not follow the rules and come out at a time is not
their time ?
23