A fire fighting plan that falls water over a fireplace near Athens, Greece
Costas Baltas/Anadolu via Getty Images
An intense heat wave in June and July killed 2300 people throughout London and other European cities, a death toll that was almost tripled by climate change. It may take months to determine the impact of climate change in health, but researchers have now developed a method to do this quickly.
A “High Cup” of high atmospheric pressure UKTT extreme heat to Western and Central Europe at the end of June, with temperatures reaching almost 35ËšC in London, 40ËšC in Paris and 46ËšC degrees in parts of Spain and Portugal. Wildfires flamed across the Mediterranean, nuclear reactors were shut down in Switzerland and France, and Italian regions banned outdoor labor during the hottest parts of the day after a construction worker died.
Researchers at the World Weather Award Network used weather data to estimate how intense the heat wave would have been without climate change, and then compared this to what actually happened. They combined their rapid attribution with research from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, which has drawn the relationship between daily temperature and excess deaths in European cities. The researchers used this curve in the real world temp that
They estimated that 2300 people died of heat between June 23 and July 2 in Athens, Barcelona, ​​Budapest, Frankfurt, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Rome, Sassari and Zagreb. The analysis showed that the heat wave would have killed 700 people, even in a cooler world. But because climate change reinforced temperatures by up to 4 degrees, another 1500 people died. Heat is the deadliest type of extreme weather, but it is a quiet killer who exacerbates existing diseases and is often not registered on death certificate.
This is the first study that calculates climate -related death immediately after a heat wave. In London, climate change was responsible for 171 of 235 fatalities. “That for me does [climate change] More real, “says team member Friederike Otto at Imperial College London.” We need decision makers to intervene. “
“Now it is closer to dangerous heat for more people,” says team member Ben Clarke, also to Imperial College London. Eighty -Chief’s percent of those killed turned 65 or older, the most vulnerable group.
The research can underestimate the death because it binds to mortality data from a cool past, according to Kristie EBI at the University of Washington in Seattle.
“We know what happens when you get to these really extreme temperatures,” she says.
While governments now provide more heat wave warnings, response plans and infrastructure still need improvement. Milan, the hardest hit city with 499 deaths, suffers from high air pollution, which can be worsened by heat. Madrid, where 90 percent of the deaths were caused by climate change, lacking green surroundings to theme urban heat island effect.
And in London, many buildings are poorly ventilated. Currently, the city could offer drinking water in pipe stations and ban non-essential car trips under heat waves, says Otto. Teachers and officials must also tell people about heat risk. “Even if you think you’re invincible, you’re not,” she says.