The heat wave that scorched Europe in August killed more than 19,000 people, according to official estimates tallied by The Associated Press, making it one of the deadliest hot-weather disasters in a century. The death toll may be higher: the survey of a dozen countries found that two -- Germany and Spain -- have attributed only a fraction of summer fatalities to heat so far.
France -- by far the hardest hit -- on Thursday reported a staggering heat wave death toll of 14,802. Scientists at INSERM, the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, reached the figure by counting the number of deaths over and above what would be expected for the month of August. The toll exceeds an earlier government count of 11,435, a figure based on deaths in only the first two weeks of the month, when Sahara-like temperatures gripped the continent.
PHOTO: EPA
No comprehensive Europe-wide toll exists, and the dimensions of the tragedy may never be known since nations are using different measures to determine heat-related deaths. The French compared the spike in mortality rates this summer to last and attributed the full difference to the record heat.
The AP conducted its survey over the past two weeks, obtaining information from government and nongovernment sources, including national Health Ministries, government statistics offices, mortuaries and ambulance services.
Italy followed the same formula for counting heat deaths as the French. The Health Ministry said 1,176 more Italians died in the first two weeks of August in the nation's 21 largest cities compared to the same period a year ago. The number will surely rise once figures are in for all of August. Italian authorities earlier reported a 4,175-person increase in deaths nationwide for July 16 to Aug. 15.
The Spanish Health Ministry put its official toll at just 141, saying it counted only people whose deaths were specifically attributed to temperature-related conditions such as heatstroke. But the ministry also said there were 4,230 more deaths last month than in August last year.
"Having seen the results from the other countries, 141 seems like an underestimation," said Betina Menne, of the European Global Change and Health Program at the World Health Organization in Rome. She added that WHO had not yet seen the complete study.
In Germany, only 40 people are on official record as dying from the heat. The medical division of the German Weather Service is still compiling a country total, although it is unclear whether the federal government will do the same.
However, an AP survey of government statistics offices, ambulance services and undertakers showed that at least 806 more people died in 15 major cities and two states in August than in the same month last year. Similar figures from the other 14 states were not available.
Some cities suffered far more, as the German example shows.
In Offenbach, near Frankfurt along the Main River, 83 people died in August, compared to only 37 during the same month last year -- an increase of 124 percent. Frankfurt reported a 21 percent rise in the number of deaths in August, from 590 to 714, although city officials haven't blamed the jump on the heat.
Cologne reported a 16 percent increase in deaths in August, 127 more than in the same month last year. Stuttgart showed a 32 percent increase in deaths for August, up to 276 from 209 last year.
Despite difficulties in counting casualties, Europe's heat wave this year stands as one of the deadliest weather phenomena in the last century.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
JOINT EFFORTS: The three countries have been strengthening an alliance and pressing efforts to bolster deterrence against Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea The US, Japan and the Philippines on Friday staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance. The Chinese frigate attempted to get closer to the waters, where the warships and aircraft from the three allied countries were undertaking maneuvers off the Scarborough Shoal — also known as Huangyan Island (黃岩島) and claimed by Taiwan and China — in an unsettling moment but it was warned by a Philippine frigate by radio and kept away. “There was a time when they attempted to maneuver
RSS