Respite From Heatwave, But Nearly 200 Dead in Europe

August 14, 2002
AFP, Paris

Parts of Europe yesterday enjoyed a welcome reprieve from an unprecedented heat-wave, but the frail and elderly continued to succumb to heat-related illnesses, with doctors and officials putting the death toll at nearly 200.

No firm Europe-wide tally was available, but according to official figures published in Italy, some 60 elderly people have died nation-wide, mainly in the northern cities of Milan and Turin, with heat-related complaints to blame.

Doctors in France where temperatures have hovered around the 40-degree Celsius mark for days estimated that at least 100 people had succumbed to the blistering heat, while the toll in Spain was at 24.

The Pompes Funebres Generales, one of France's biggest undertakers, yesterday said the death rate had jumped 37 percent nation-wide and 49 percent in the Paris area last week, as compared with the same period in 2002.

As the French government struggled to counter claims that its slow response had sparked a severe health emergency, Parisians breathed easier as the mercury was due to hit only 35 Celsius on yesterday and just 29 Celsius on Thursday.

"We're going to see temperatures drop 10 degrees over the next week," the country's national weather service Meteo France predicted.

Britain's government meteorological bureau, the Met Office, said on its website that thermometers in London would reach 27 degrees Celsius on Wednesday, with Thursday "feeling cooler and fresher" at 24 degrees.

Britain was just one of several European countries to shatter all-time record temperatures in recent days, with the mercury surpassing 37.8 Celsius for the first time in recorded history on Sunday.

Although the unseasonable heat looked set to soon let up, it left short-staffed hospitals struggling to accommodate emergency patients, sparked power cuts, and sent suffering Europeans flocking to movie theatres and pools.

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said beds would be made available to the public in military hospitals as a way to cope with the steady flow of patients seeking treatment for heat-related illnesses.

Red Cross teams fanned out in hospitals across the Paris region to help medical personnel perform non-specialised tasks such as applying cold compresses and distributing drinking water to patients.

http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/08/14/d30814130375.htm