Jakarta –
Portugal reports more than 1,000 deaths from heat wave at the moment. Portugal’s health authorities have warned that the country must be prepared to cope with the effects of climate change as temperatures continue to rise.
“Portugal … is one of the regions in the world that could be (more) affected by extreme heat,” said the head of the DGS health authority, Graça Freitas, as reported by Reuters. ReutersWednesday (20/7/2022).
“We need to be more and more prepared for periods of high temperatures.”
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Temperatures across drought-hit Portugal topped 40 degrees Celsius or 104 Fahrenheit last week. Although it has fallen in recent days, Freitas said it remains above normal levels for the year.
The DGS previously reported 238 more deaths from the heatwave from July 7 to 13, but Freitas said the death toll had now risen to 1,063 for the period to July 18.
High temperatures, ongoing drought and poor forest management have been blamed for several wildfires ravaging Portugal. Firefighters are also battling blazes in other southern European countries, including Spain.
Carlos Antunes, a researcher at the University of Lisbon’s faculty of science, said in an interview that the data showed those most likely to die from the heatwave were the elderly.
He said the number of future deaths would depend, among other things, on the precautions people take to protect themselves, how home care cares for their occupants, and the adaptation of infrastructure.
“With climate change, it is expected that this increase in mortality will continue to increase and therefore we must take steps at the public health level to minimize its impact,” said Antunes.
(rfs/rfs)
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