Europe created heatwave protections, but now comes the ‘crash test’

ROME – After a heatwave 23 years ago caused 70,000 deaths across the continent, European countries took steps to try to minimise the suffering next time around.

They created early warning systems, organised cooling shelters and helped hospitals get better prepared. Paris built a registry of elderly and vulnerable residents, who get check-in calls when temperatures climb.

This week, the continent is being swept by intense heat that is drawing comparisons to the disaster of 2003.

And, while the earlier safety measures have helped Europe avoid a cataclysmic replay, it remains vulnerable.

In Western Europe, which is the epicentre of this week’s early season heat, air-conditioning rates remain relatively low.

The European Union’s demographics add to the challenge, with the number of senior citizens rising 40 per cent over the past two decades, effectively swelling the population most susceptible to extremes.

The latest torrid stretch has brought Sahara-like conditions to tourist-filled capitals, with temperatures in parts of Western Europe rising nearly 14 deg C above normal.

In France, several consecutive days will challenge all-time heat records. France put much of the country under a red-level alert, meaning the potential of a “strong health impact”.

Heatwaves become deadlier as they go on, as strain builds up in bodies. The World Health Organization said more than 200,000 people across Europe have died from heat over the past four years.

In May, an editorial in Le Monde, a French national newspaper, called France “unprepared”, noting that the government had relaxed rules aimed at improving buildings and homes.

Paris has struggled to contend with its zinc roofs, which give the city its signature look, but direct powerful heat to apartment-dwellers below.

Then, there is the matter of air-conditioning.

About one-quarter of French homes have the cooling units. In Italy, half are equipped. French policymakers have tended to encourage passive cooling for buildings, like shading and greenery, noting that air-conditioning taxes energy grids and contributes to emissions.

Mathilde Pascal, an epidemiologist at France’s public health agency who helped devise the country’s response, said the current heatwave was like the “crash test” after years of preparation. “We are better prepared,” Pascal said.

She mentioned that schools had been cancelled, sports events called off and many employees asked to work from home. NYTIMES

• This article originally appeared in The New York Times.