warmth stress deadlier than hurricanes or floods

Be careful for early heatwaves. In Greece, three international vacationers died in per week, three others are lacking. Six hours of publicity to 35°C with 100% humidity is sufficient to kill a wholesome particular person.

Revealed on 06/18/2024 09:54 Up to date on 06/18/2024 10:24

Studying time: 2 min Vacationers in entrance of the traditional Acropolis hill on a scorching day in Athens on June 12, 2024. (STRINGER / AFP)

It is laborious to imagine once we see the climate in a lot of France, however we’re anticipating 37°C once more this Tuesday, June 18 in Athens, with a sense of 40°C. Nonetheless, the thermometer has gone down in comparison with final week, once we recorded 42°C within the capital and as much as 44°C within the Peloponnese.

Faculties closed for 2 days, authorities requested companies to favor teleworking, however some vacationers nonetheless ventured onto the mountain climbing trails. Three of them have already died there, victims of sunstroke or sickness, together with a Briton, physician and small display star. His physique was discovered on June 9 on the island of Symi by a tv crew who got here to movie the scene of his disappearance.

An American and two French girls aged 63 and 74 are nonetheless wished within the Cyclades. The primary on Amorgos, the opposite two on Sikinos, which has lower than 200 inhabitants. On Friday, one of many two girls despatched a message to the proprietor of her lodging, explaining that she had fallen and was not feeling nicely. Since then, no extra information.

Because of the warmth, a number of vacationer websites such because the Acropolis needed to partially shut: the doorways remained closed from 12 p.m. to five p.m. In themselves, there’s nothing uncommon about these closures. When temperature curves are at their highest, Greeks at the moment are used to seeing their Minister of Tradition seem on tv and announce time restrictions, to guard employees and guests. Besides that usually this occurs later. Final yr, the primary heatwave of the summer time, actually distinctive in its length (two weeks), didn’t arrive till mid-July. This time, it’s the earliest warmth wave on file.

Different nations have additionally recorded deaths in current weeks as a result of warmth: India, the place it was over 47°C, Mexico which has reported round fifty deaths since March, Saudi Arabia, the place the well being ministry reported greater than 2,700 instances of“warmth exhaustion” on the one day of June 16. At the least 22 deaths have been reported by Jordanian, Iranian and Senegalese authorities.

India: “extreme warmth waves”, the identical in Greece and the Mediterranean basin, in Mexico and all of Central America, and many others. and many others
Local weather change is certainly the shock wave that threatens the planet.

— Jean-Joseph Boillot (@jjboillot) June 18, 2024

It is at all times worse when the humidity within the air prevents sweat from evaporating and the physique from regulating its temperature: six hours of publicity to 35°C with a humidity stage of 100% is sufficient to kill a wholesome particular person. This “warmth stress” can also be far more lethal than hurricanes or floods or any excessive climate phenomenon. Some 500,000 individuals are victims annually, based on the World Meteorological Group (WMO), which specifies that these official figures are very partial. This toll might truly be 30 instances increased.