Stockholm [Sweden], July 1: The latest heatwave to hit Europe is merely a "dress rehearsal," with worse to come, the director of the World Health Organization's European region said on Tuesday.
"The summers ahead will be harder," Hans Kluge predicted in a statement. He warned that Europe was warming at more than twice the global average and said that heatwaves were no longer one-off events but recurring crises that were getting more frequent and stronger and were lasting longer.
Every summer we fail to prepare for them is a summer we pay for in lives," Kluge said.
He noted that in France, emergency medical calls had risen by up to 50% in some cities and that in London, the ambulance service had seen the highest number of life-threatening emergency calls ever recorded in a single day.
Spain's mortality monitoring system has already estimated more than 300 heat-associated excess deaths in just a few days. Italy reported five deaths in 24 hours. But Kluge also noted that "prevention works" and pointed to successes. Barcelona has expanded its climate shelters to include libraries, civic centres, parks and pharmacies.
Paris has activated its welfare-check register for older and vulnerable residents and restricted public alcohol sales.
Italy has introduced restrictions on outdoor work during the hottest hours of the day in some regions, with furlough arrangements so that workers do not lose income.
Kluge called for greater efforts. "More than half of European countries still do not have a comprehensive heat-health action plan in place. That needs to change," he said.
Europe's deadly heatwave has broken records in the east of the continent, with Czechia and Slovakia recording their highest-ever temperatures, and Ukraine ordering power cuts to deal with the strain.
Slovakia recorded a high of 41 degrees Celsius (105.8 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday in the village of Turna nad Bodvou, southwest of the country's second-largest city, Kosice.
Czechia reached 41.9C (107.42F) in Doksany in the country's northwest on Sunday evening, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute said. The previous record was 40.4C (104.72F) in 2021. "Breaking the record by 1.5 °C is absolutely unprecedented," the institute noted, adding that the "length of the heatwave is also exceptional".
In Hungary, temperatures reached 41.8C (107.24F) in the centre of the country on Monday, just shy of its highest-ever record of 41.9C (107.42F) in July 2007. At least 130 million people in central and Eastern Europe experienced temperatures of more than 35C (95F) on Monday, the AFP news agency reported. In Italy, 22 cities were placed under red heat warnings, as were several regions in Croatia.
Source: Qatar Tribune
