World

Heat wave alert as Europe swelters

Governments take action to prevent fatalities

June 28, 2005 Edition 1

Chris Wright

Madrid: Southern Europe was on heat wave alert yesterday, faced with baking temperatures and drought conditions, two years after the heat claimed tens of thousands of lives across the continent.

Governments in France, Portugal, Spain and Italy have rushed to put in place emergency measures to deal with the heat's worst effects, keen to show they have learned from a heat wave that caught them unawares in 2003, with Italy and France particularly hard-hit. Despite refreshing morning rainfall here yesterday, much of southern and central Spain has been sweltering in temperatures reaching 40°C for weeks.

The southern region of Andalucia has already put in place a text-messaging alert system to warn the elderly and the infirm living alone, as well as parents of young children, of impending high temperatures above 41°C.

Spain has also had to earmark E750 million in emergency aid for its farmers to tackle the country's worst drought for 60 years, with rainfall 54% below average since the winter.

With Spain well used to high summer temperatures, many residential buildings are equipped with air conditioning, which helped limit the 2003 official death toll to 101, whereas in neighbouring France, at least 14 847 people died.

French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand has promised a nationwide emergency system, including a requirement that all establishments for the elderly should have at least one air-conditioned room.

Italy was also on high alert, with the health risks linked to above-normal temperatures highlighted by the release of an official report saying that almost 20 000 Italians had died in the 2003 heat wave - more than double the previous estimate and boosting the Europe-wide toll for that period to around

40 000.

Portugal is facing its worst drought in 60 years, while on Friday in Germany 36.2°C temperatures near the southern city of Stuttgart hit a national record. Over the border in Austria, at least 111 people were taken to hospital suffering the effects of heat, combined in some cases with the effects of drinking alcohol, following the traditional Donauinselfestival on the River Danube, as temperatures soared to 34°C.

Swedes, however, have enjoyed comfortable temperatures in the mid-20s, and the Scandinavian nation's chief summertime worry was not heat wave fatalities but high levels of phosphorus in the Baltic Sea, which can lead to a toxic algae bloom that can cause fever, rashes and vomiting in humans and dogs.