The Italian government issued a red alert, meaning ‘extreme health risk’, in 16 cities, including Rome, Bologna and Florence, as the whole of Europe was engulfed in record heat this year following last year.
Italian flag/Photo = Unsplash
On the 16th, foreign media including CNN reported that the Italian government issued a red alert to 16 cities, including major tourist destinations. A red alert refers to a heat wave situation in which not only children and the elderly, but also healthy adults and men and women can risk their lives.
Accordingly, each business has been given an official notice to keep people indoors as much as possible from noon to 5 pm for the next two weeks, and most summer camps for children scheduled across Italy have been canceled.
Climate experts from the European Space Agency have forecast temperatures in Sicily and Sardinia to rise to record highs of 49 degrees Celsius, the highest in Europe, while Rome is also expected to record highs of 44 degrees Celsius.
People cooling off in a fountain in a Roman square/Photo = Unsplash
The reason why Italy is particularly nervous is that it has already experienced the most casualties in Europe due to the heat last summer. According to data recently released by Nature, out of 61,672 heat-related deaths in Europe in 2022, Italy accounted for about 18,000 deaths, a noticeable increase compared to other countries.
Practical damage has already begun to appear in many places, such as a British tourist who recently traveled to Rome collapsed from the heat, and a worker working outside in the suburbs of Milan died. Cities visited by many tourists, including Rome, have started responding in earnest by deploying cooling facilities and medical staff near major attractions.
The Italian Meteorological Society named the heatwave Cerberus after the monster in Dante Alighieri’s epic poem Inferno. In addition, the heat wave in Italy is expected to continue for the time being, with a new anticyclone named after Charon, the god of Greek mythology who guided the dead to the underworld.
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2023-07-20 12:15:41
