Wikipedia says that the equator is about 40,075 kilometers (24,901 miles) long; 78.7% is across water and 21.3% is over land.

A yard was defined as the distance from finger tip to nose with the arms straight out to the sides.
Allowing 5 inches for a palm grip at each side we have 2(36-5) = 62 inches or 1.6m.

Estimate the number of people who holding hands in a human chain cover the length of the equator.