NEWSHouston Establishes Task Force To Review Event Safety 'To Ensure Consistent Operational Standards For Future Events' Following Astroworld Tragedy
Officials are hoping to prevent another tragedy like the Astroworld festival from unfolding.
As reported by OK!, ten people lost their lives and hundreds were injured last year following a crowd surge at Travis Scott's deadly festival in Houston, Tex.
In light of the incident, a new task force will look into ways to improve safety at large events in the city. The group is believed to be meeting on a monthly basis, ABC News reported.
According to Mayor Sylvester Turner, they will search for potential upgrades to safety protocols, look at ways of improving communication between different agencies and departments, as well as make recommendations "to ensure consistent operational standards for future events."
"We know that the city and county can do better," Turner reportedly declared.
Following the festival, questions had been asked about whether there was a lack of coordination between Houston city, Harris County officials and Live Nation. Questions were also raised about whether there was enough planning for emergency situations, security and medical personnel on hand, the outlet noted.
Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia said he hopes the task force will help to alleviate any concerns people have about how safe events taking place in Houston are.
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"I want this task force to resolve concerns of parents throughout our region, that if they’re coming to an event, whether inside the county or inside the city, that they know that there has been a great deal of thought put into the safety and well-being of all attendees at these respective events," Garcia reportedly explained.
Turner told the press the task force will be looking to the future and not focusing on any one event in the past, the publication reported. He added that the new task force will also not interfere with the criminal investigation into the fatal Astroworld concert.
The Astroworld victims' cause of death was revealed to be compression asphyxia.
As reported by OK!, in the aftermath of the tragedy, the 30-year-old teamed up with leaders from The United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) to form a committee of members of government, public safety, emergency response, health care event management, music and technology to map out a way to prevent a repeat of the incident.
In December, the rapper spoke to Charlamagne tha God about the horrifying event. At the time, the father-of-two revealed he was not instructed to stop the show and maintained he did not hear people screaming for help because he wears earpieces while performing.
Almost 300 lawsuits had been filed against Scott, Live Nation and others involved in the festival. They have since been combined into a single case, Forbes reported.
