Europe Heatwave...

[AggieDave 6]

Alright, this is bugging me, why all the deaths, whats the big freak'n deal? Its reaching 100F some times more like 105F, but still that's just shitty weather, not what I would consider to be a killer tempurature.

The French government announced today that they're estimating that roughly 3,000 people total have died from heat related illnesses since the heatwave started. 3,000?

I guess I'm just having problems understanding how 3,000 people could die from tempuratures that people in many parts of the world live with on a daily basis in the summer.

Yes, I understand that air conditioning may not be as prevalent as it is here in the southern US, but that shouldn't be a deciding factor. Water consumption, doing your best to stay shaded, out of the sun, and steps like that would keep you alive.


Sorry, I guess I'm just frustrated to hear about all of these deaths, especially in a situation in which I don't think people should be have any problems at all (no problems except bitching about the heat).

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[BPO 0]

Hey,

When I heard this news, it seemed to me like it are mainly ill elderly people who have died from the heat. Not healthy people. And.. airconditioning is not as common in France as it is in the southern US.

Still.. 3000 is al lot.. but I guess a lot of them were already on 'the list'... crude as it may sound.

[BlueEyedMonster 0]

Maybe God is punishing the French for being French.

[AggieDave 6]

What? That's not what this thread is about.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[b1jercat 0]

it's a mind boggler all right . hell i was skydiveing the other day and it was 98 in the shade.

blues


jerry

[Tonto 1]

I think we aclimitise to where we're from. To take 2 extreme examples, if we swopped San (Bushman) and Eskimos... think they'd struggle?

I'm comfortable at 100 deg F. I can operate at tempretures much higher than that.

Take me to freezing point and I'm dressed like the michelin man, and I'm at like maybe 30% operational. It's what we're used to.

I'm happy. Africa is hot, and I'm 7th generation. Used to it.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[Malev 0]

Quote

Alright, this is bugging me, why all the deaths, whats the big freak'n deal? Its reaching 100F some times more like 105F, but still that's just shitty weather, not what I would consider to be a killer tempurature.

The thing is - we're just not used to temperature like this. For example, the average summer temperature in Scotland is ~55/65F. Recently we've had temperatures around the 80F mark. France was much hotter still.

This causes all sorts of problems. Our houses and offices aren't built for such heat, in much the same way that they aren't built to withstand, say, earthquakes. The problem is that we aren't aclimatised to this sort of weather.

Quote

Sorry, I guess I'm just frustrated to hear about all of these deaths, especially in a situation in which I don't think people should be have any problems at all (no problems except bitching about the heat).

Its actually not such an isolated thing - for instance the 1980 heat wave in the US is estimated to have resulted in approximately 10,000 deaths*. Again, its the same underlying problem - people can cope with the climate there are used to, but push the boundaries of that either up (too hot) or down (too cold) and its unfortunately going to end in people dying (often the elderly/sick).

[bluepill 0]

Speaking from the UK, I expect it is down to a whole bunch of reasons.
Alot of places in Europe do not have the infrastructure to cope with sustained 'out of the norm' temperatures.
E.G's
Not all buildings have air-con, and if they do, alot are not designed to deal with the current heat.
Few homes have air con, and you cant buy a fan for love or money any more.
Rail tracks have buckeled from the heat (in the UK)
There is an obvious water shortage.
And some countries have asked for people to be more conservative with power, as due to some rivers drying up, water-driven power stations are running low.

Add to that the fact that we are creatures of habits and to suddenly change to adapt to living in a hotter climate is difficult, especially for the elderly and your bound to have problems.

Can tell you one thing though.
We know how to handle our lightening strikes

[meatmissile 0]

High humidity contributes. The air becomes kind of "fuggy" and people don't get rid of the heat.

Like Tonto, I was born in Africa and have lived here all my life, so that kind of temperature sounds about right to me too. The climate in Texas (I was there in July) is very much like the summer over here.

--
ZZZzzzz....

[Remster 30]

As I posted in the other thread, its not out of wack... The French health minister reported between 1,500 and 3,000 deaths, so the higher figure is just that, a high figure.

Second, these are deaths ATTRIBUTED to the heat. What that means in layman terms, I'm not 100% sure.

Third, 700 deaths were attributed to the Chicago heatwave of 1995 in 3 days. To me, it make even the high number of 3,000 seem low considering that the heatwave in Europe has been going on for a couple of weeks now.

Remster

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

High humidity contributes.

Oh, trust me, I know.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[turtlespeed 226]

Just a thought...
Maybe the French have always had this many deaths in this type of weather
but were too embarrassed by the lack of appropriate action from their
government, who SHOULD be taking steps on this issue (Ours would and has)
that they didn't let it out before.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[mountainman 0]

Well... being here in Spain for the past six weeks has shown me some high temps. The highest I saw while I was here was 46C. All of Europe (the most in Southern Europe which is still having it) is having this heatwave and in Portugal and Barcelona area (close to Empuriabrava) are having lots of fires that are being very difficult to put out.

These people are used to heat, but not the extreme heat that is happening. And, it seems that with this, you don´t drink as much water as you should. I was in Seville a few days ago for three nights and I read about several people who died from the heat. They were old people who just didn´t stay hydrated.

One big difference here is that the people are used to walking a LOT as opposed to driving and they probably don´t get reminded as they need. In America, we are getting all kinds of warnings and reminders of drinking and staying cool, but here, they don´t have that on the TV stations. I know. I am watching them... in my AC hotel room. Most places do NOT have AC, especially the places where natives live-eat-work-hangout.

So, that is probably why. However,I am with you, Dave. That is an AWFUL high amount of deaths due to heat.

http://www.brandonandlaura.com