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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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 Thu Aug 14, 2003 2:04 pm Heat wave kills about 3000 in France |
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| Quote: | PARIS (Aug. 14) - France's worst heat wave on record has killed as many as 3,000 people across the nation, the Health Ministry said Thursday, as the government faced accusations that it failed to respond to a major health crisis.
Deaths accelerated in the past week, with up to 180 people dying in one day in Paris due to the abnormally high temperatures that have smothered France and other parts of Europe, the ministry said. The August heat also has devastated livestock and fanned wildfires that have blackened tens of thousands of acres of territory.
It was the government's first official death toll estimate. After days of complaints about the slow government response, the government on Wednesday launched crisis management measures usually reserved for epidemics, terror attacks and catastrophes.
''The number that today reflects a reasonable estimate is between 1,500 and 3,000 deaths,'' said Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei Thursday afternoon after leaving a Cabinet meeting. ''We can qualify what is happening to us as a true epidemic,'' he told France-Inter radio earlier.
The ministry said in its statement that the deaths of approximately 3,000 people were ''directly or indirectly'' linked to the heat, many of them elderly. It said the estimate was partly drawn from studying deaths in 23 Paris regional hospitals from July 25-Aug. 12 and from information provided by General Funeral Services.
According to 2002 figures, the Paris regional hospitals that were surveyed could have expected some 39 deaths a day, the ministry said. But Tuesday, they recorded nearly 180, it said.
''We note a clear increase in cases beginning Aug. 7-8, which we can regard as the start of the epidemic of deaths linked to the heat,'' the statement said.
Morgues and funeral directors have reported skyrocketing demand for their services since the heat wave took hold. General Funeral Services, France's largest undertaker, said it handled some 3,230 deaths from Aug. 6-12, compared to 2,300 on an average week in the year - a 37 percent jump.
Many people died while locked inside apartments, raising concerns about hygiene and odor. One police officers union in Paris called on the government to deploy the army to help retrieve bodies.
With many families gone on vacation, ''there are a lot of elderly people alone in big cities in August,'' said health ministry spokeswoman Laurence Danand.
Danand said an exact figure would be released next week on the number of heat-related deaths, based on a survey of all private and public medical institutions, including retirement homes.
Under the crisis measures enacted Wednesday, hospitals in Paris mobilized a large number of beds to treat victims and called back health care workers from their vacations.
Critics said it amounted to too little, too late. One hospital official faulted the government for failing to act on warning signals from doctors in late July and early August.
''We said, 'Watch out, something's happening. There are a lot of people arriving' - but no one listened,'' said Patrick Pelloux, head of France's emergency physicians' association, on Europe-1 radio.
When it's all counted, ''we're going to have between 3,000 and 5,000'' dead, Pelloux said. ''It's a nationwide catastrophe the likes of which we've never seen.''
Mattei, the health minister, acknowledged ''difficulties'' but said the government ''carried out the responses that were needed'' as soon as the first cases of heat-related death appeared.
''We didn't just remain inactive,'' he said.
Paris City Hall said Wednesday it would ensure that city-run funeral homes would remain open to bury bodies on Friday, a holiday in France, and recall more than 30 municipal workers from vacation.
To protect the elderly, the city's 13 retirement homes bought extra fans and atomizers to keep their residents cool in a country where air conditioning is not widespread.
Record-high temperatures have been set in numerous cities across France, and the capital has baked under heat at or exceeding 98 degrees.
In its duration and in temperatures reached, the heat wave was France's worst ever, surpassing the previous hottest summer - 1947, said Patrick Galois, a forecaster for weather service Meteo France.
''It's historic, unprecedented since we've had weather stations,'' Galois said.
AP-NY-08-14-03 1343EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. |
Last edited by Theresa on Tue Aug 19, 2003 10:08 am; edited 2 times in total
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Jeff Miller
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 22 Nov 2001
Posts: 23947
Location: Mental Ward for the Mentaly Unstable 6th floor, Saint John's 1615 Delaware Longview Washington 98632
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| Thu Aug 14, 2003 2:10 pm |
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wow makes you wonder if something like that will happen here in the future
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Ronevick
The King
Joined: 23 May 2003
Posts: 11428
Location: (609), New Jersey
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| Thu Aug 14, 2003 4:29 pm |
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It sounds like my friend Julian got out of there just in time.
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Capt.Rene D'Hondt
Lieutenant
Joined: 22 Jul 2003
Posts: 182
Location: Ontario,Canada
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| Fri Aug 15, 2003 7:27 am |
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i think that article is a little misinformed.
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Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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| Fri Aug 15, 2003 8:00 am |
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about 2 weeks ago 25 000 chickens had died in Belgium alone, if I remember correctly
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Fri Aug 15, 2003 8:22 am |
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| Capt.Rene D'Hondt wrote: | | i think that article is a little misinformed. |
Really? The AP and the French government don't know what they're talking about? Hmmm....
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Capt.Rene D'Hondt
Lieutenant
Joined: 22 Jul 2003
Posts: 182
Location: Ontario,Canada
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| Fri Aug 15, 2003 8:36 am |
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i dont tihnk 3000 people are gonna die in just a couple days....Maquis u sound like one of the many maericains that bleives what u hear in the media...its not that bad inb Europe its only up to 30 degress........weve had worse ehre
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Fri Aug 15, 2003 8:38 am |
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| Quote: | PARIS (Aug. 14) - France's worst heat wave on record has killed as many as 3,000 people across the nation, the Health Ministry said Thursday, as the government faced accusations that it failed to respond to a major health crisis.
Deaths accelerated in the past week, with up to 180 people dying in one day in Paris due to the abnormally high temperatures that have smothered France and other parts of Europe, the ministry said. |
Talk to the French government.....
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PrankishSmart
Rear Admiral
Joined: 29 Apr 2002
Posts: 4779
Location: Hobart, Australia.
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| Fri Aug 15, 2003 9:17 am |
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I'm confussed. Is this 3000 deaths from July 25-Aug 12 or 3000 more deaths than normal. How do they know every single person died directly resulting from the heat? I would imagine it would take an incredible temprature to actually kill someone. Seems very unbelievable.
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Capt.Rene D'Hondt
Lieutenant
Joined: 22 Jul 2003
Posts: 182
Location: Ontario,Canada
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| Fri Aug 15, 2003 9:29 am |
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I agree its only about 30 degrees there its not really that bad..i beleive the french got there info a little twisted.
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Fri Aug 15, 2003 9:36 am |
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| PrankishSmart wrote: | | I'm confussed. Is this 3000 deaths from July 25-Aug 12 or 3000 more deaths than normal. How do they know every single person died directly resulting from the heat? I would imagine it would take an incredible temprature to actually kill someone. Seems very unbelievable. |
It actually doesn't take an incredible temp to kill someone. People dehydrate all of the time w/out being aware of it. And especially if your not used to the heat, you won't notice the signs, like not sweating anymore, etc....
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Fri Aug 15, 2003 9:42 am |
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| Quote: | Heat crisis in French hospitals
Friday, August 15, 2003 Posted: 9:21 AM EDT (1321 GMT)
PARIS, France -- Morgues and funeral homes in France are overrun with bodies as the country struggles to cope with an estimated 3,000 people who died of heat-related causes in the past two weeks.
Government officials, including Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei, held an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss ways of dealing with what Mattei has described as a "veritable epidemic" of deaths.
A "Plan Blanc" or "White Plan" has been put into action, with doctors and nurses being recalled from leave, some morgue workers called out of retirement, and further 1,000 hospital beds being made available from Friday.
The head of the doctors' emergency association, Patrick Pelloux told The Associated Press that some hospitals requisitioned kitchen refrigerators to hold the dead, while others put up tents to keep corpses before burial.
A morgue in Longjumeau, a suburb south of Paris, rented an air-conditioned tent to house twice as many corpses.
General Funeral Services, France's largest undertaker, said it handled some 3,230 deaths from August 6 to 12, compared to 2,300 on an average week -- a 37 percent jump.
Family members of victims lashed out at the government.
Martine Flou's 70-year-old mother's body had to be brought to a morgue in Paris from their home 50 miles away because there was no space there.
"It's scandalous. The government has done nothing," she told AP.
Some officials said one problem is that the country all but shuts down in August, when many French go on vacation. Hospital services in cities are curtailed and many families leave their elderly relatives at home.
A law limiting France's work week to 35 hours left medical centers and retirement homes doubly short-staffed.
Germany and Italy have not issued figures on heat-related deaths, saying such figures are difficult to come by because heat may be just one factor contributing to a person's death.
Doctors said typically about 30 people a day die in the Paris area. This year, that number has climbed to more than 180 a day.
If the preliminary French figures hold up, the heat-related death toll would be among the highest in recent years, officials at the World Health Organization in Geneva said.
Coffins are lined up at the Villetaneuse cemetery outside Paris.
About 2,600 heat-related deaths were recorded in India five years ago, and roughly 500 people died from heat-related causes in 1995 in Chicago, according to WHO experts.
This year's heat wave is France's worst ever on record, said Patrick Galois, a forecaster for national weather service Meteo France.
Meteo France said the worst of the heat wave was probably over, with no part of the country reporting temperatures above 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) on Thursday.
Between August 3 and August 13, temperatures regularly exceeded 40 C (104 F), TF1 reported. Typically, the temperature in August in Paris is around 23 C (75 F).
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Inflatable refrigerated tents are being used to house the dead.
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Thomas
Pool Princess
Joined: 08 Jul 2001
Posts: 19730
Location: Manchester
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| Fri Aug 15, 2003 9:43 am |
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| Capt.Rene D'Hondt wrote: | | I agree its only about 30 degrees there its not really that bad..i beleive the french got there info a little twisted. |
The temperatures have got as high as 46 degrees in France. Heck, it's been above 35 in Britain, at times.
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Jeremy
J's Guy
Joined: 03 Oct 2002
Posts: 7823
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
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| Sat Aug 16, 2003 3:50 pm |
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I doubt that all the deaths were linked to the heat. Its far worse in Iraq (about 56) and theres not so many deaths, but maybe thats because they would have to keep out of the sun all the time, rather than swimming etc so drowning.
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PrankishSmart
Rear Admiral
Joined: 29 Apr 2002
Posts: 4779
Location: Hobart, Australia.
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| Sat Aug 16, 2003 11:35 pm |
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| Maquis74656 wrote: | | PrankishSmart wrote: | | I'm confussed. Is this 3000 deaths from July 25-Aug 12 or 3000 more deaths than normal. How do they know every single person died directly resulting from the heat? I would imagine it would take an incredible temprature to actually kill someone. Seems very unbelievable. |
It actually doesn't take an incredible temp to kill someone. People dehydrate all of the time w/out being aware of it. And especially if your not used to the heat, you won't notice the signs, like not sweating anymore, etc.... |
T, I am not used to extreme heat either. When I visit my dad in the summer who lives in Adelaide, SA, they always have real hot days in the summer (sometimes reaching 43c!). If I am outside, usually I don't stay out in the heat for very long because I feel a sunburn comming on, before dehydration. I also get out of the heat, well just because I know it is too hot to stand. I can't see how someone can dehydrate without knowing it. I think the 3000 dead figure is very bogus anyway. It does not sound quite right to me.
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:11 am |
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^Contact the French government, it's their report. I'd say it's like the tourists, and locals, that we have freeze to death up here, because they don't know enough to stay in their vehicles when they break down during a storm.
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Capt.Rene D'Hondt
Lieutenant
Joined: 22 Jul 2003
Posts: 182
Location: Ontario,Canada
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| Sun Aug 17, 2003 10:49 am |
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Yea PranishSmart..its not really that bad in Europe there just not use to it.I have no idea what the Frecnh Gov't is saying........ive talked to ppl in Europe its Defenelty not true.
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Captain Dappet
Forum Revolutionist
Joined: 06 Feb 2002
Posts: 16756
Location: On my supersonic rocket ship.
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| Sun Aug 17, 2003 5:27 pm |
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Maybe someone has died from the heat. But not 3000 in France. No way. People, its not unusual for the Media to exaggerate. And exaggerate alot.
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Ksim3000
Rear Admiral
Joined: 27 Mar 2002
Posts: 4952
Location: United Kingdom
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| Sun Aug 17, 2003 5:43 pm |
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Actually on the news over here it has said 3,000 have died in the heat in France. I saw it on the news, they had to dig out mass graves.
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Captain Dappet
Forum Revolutionist
Joined: 06 Feb 2002
Posts: 16756
Location: On my supersonic rocket ship.
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| Sun Aug 17, 2003 6:08 pm |
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No way!? 
Christ!
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Saoirse_Granger
Lieutenant
Joined: 03 Jan 2003
Posts: 198
Location: Button Moon
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| Mon Aug 18, 2003 4:07 pm |
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| Capt.Rene D'Hondt wrote: | | i dont tihnk 3000 people are gonna die in just a couple days....Maquis u sound like one of the many maericains that bleives what u hear in the media...its not that bad inb Europe its only up to 30 degress........weve had worse ehre |
Um, yeah, I'm not being insensitive about the actual article, I have real sympathy for the French people, and anyone who's died as a result of this heatwave (two words: Global. Warming. It might not be the cause but it is us that's causing global warming. anyways....) But in reference to the quote, people die all the time.
| Quote: | BBC Sci/Tech: Room to live
Every 24 hours on our planet some 237,000 people are born and 140,000 die. Of course they all require space and resources and a pertinent question is whether the Earth can cope with them. |
I really am stressing that I am NOT being insensitive towards the french etc, just that as Capt. Rene said they didn't think that 3000 people could die withing a couple of days....280,000 other people die too.
My condolences go to all the families and friends of those who have died.
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Qgirl
Captain
Joined: 08 Jun 2003
Posts: 554
Location: Florida
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| Mon Aug 18, 2003 6:00 pm |
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I beileve those figures.
When I visited Paris, there were hardly any air-conditioners. It was very hot, so I don't doubt it.
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Seven of Nine
Sammie's Mammy
Joined: 16 Jun 2001
Posts: 7871
Location: North East England
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| Thu Aug 21, 2003 7:49 am |
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The latest I heard is that 5000 people have died in France directly relating to the heat wave. And no, we're not used to it. Britain has had it's hottest day since records began, and the hospitals were having problems with all the people with heat stroke. Also, most of these people were elderly, so they can't regulate their own tempreture as well as we can.
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Kyle Reese
Cadet Gunnery Sergeant
Joined: 21 Apr 2003
Posts: 5672
Location: The United States of America
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| Thu Aug 21, 2003 3:31 pm |
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If there was a heat wave here then i'd probably be down here listening to music not noticing a difference 
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Theresa
Lux Mihi Deus
Joined: 17 Jun 2001
Posts: 27256
Location: United States of America
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| Thu Aug 21, 2003 4:28 pm |
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| Quote: | PARIS (Aug. 21) - President Jacques Chirac promised to correct failings in France's health service Thursday, his first comment on a heat wave his government said probably killed 10,000 people.
Chirac, under fire from opposition politicians and newspapers for remaining silent during the crisis, noted that many victims ``died alone in their homes.''
He said he has asked for a study of the crisis and its causes from his embattled government, and promised proposals by October to better care for France's growing numbers of elderly people.
``Everything will be done to correct the insufficiencies that we noted in our health system,'' the president said in an address after a Cabinet meeting on the heat that baked France in the first two weeks of August.
The minister for the elderly, Hubert Falco, said after the meeting that ``most probably'' 10,000 people died. That matched an estimate released a day earlier by France's largest chain of undertakers.
The heat wave, which saw temperatures go as high as 104, caused morgues and funeral homes to overflow with bodies, overwhelmed hospitals and prompted painful soul-searching about France's attitudes about the elderly.
``These dramas again shed light on the solitude of many of our aged or handicapped citizens,'' said Chirac. ``Aged and handicapped people should be able to count on the solidarity of the French.''
Some critics blamed families for abandoning elderly relatives alone at home while they took August vacations. Health workers blamed understaffing and underfunding at hospitals and retirement homes. Many accused the government of doing too little, too late.
In an apparent effort to calm the storm of criticism, Chirac said ``today, the time is for contemplation, solidarity and action.''
He called the heat wave ``exceptional,'' echoing some government health officials who said little more could have been done to save lives in such extreme weather.
That Chirac addressed the nation live on radio and television was a measure of the gravity of the crisis faced by his center-right administration. As president, Chirac generally tends to stay above the fray of day-to-day domestic politics - an attitude critics have begun to assail considering the high death toll.
Chirac was vacationing in Canada during the heat wave and did not speak about the crisis in public, although aides said he was following the situation. Still, his decision not to break off his vacation irked some of Chirac's opponents.
``What wounded the French was the feeling that their leaders were not present on a moral, human and emotional level,'' Socialist lawmaker Jack Lang, a former education minister, told the daily Le Parisien. ``They simply ask: 'Why were you so far away from us during this testing time?'''
The newspaper said 51 percent of 1,000 people polled believed the government response was inadequate.
``Chirac: a long silence that surprises,'' conservative-leaning Le Figaro said in an inside-page headline Thursday.
``Chirac counts the dead,'' said the left-leaning daily Liberation, over a cartoon of Chirac finger-pointing with the prime minister and the health minister.
Without giving a death toll, Chirac said the heat ``caused a very large number of victims.''
He promised a review of France's health surveillance, alert and prevention bodies ``to avoid such dramas in the future.''
He also said emergency services would be given means to better deal with temporary crises. He stopped short, however, of saying whether the government - already criticized by the European Union for overspending on the public sector - would give emergency services more funding.
France's medical system is widely regarded as one of the best in the world. But some health workers said it fell short in August because of a law which has restricted France's working week to 35 hours, which has led to staff shortages, and because hospital and retirement home workers were on holiday.
Opposition parties, which have called for a parliamentary inquiry into the government response, remained critical Thursday.
Dominique Voynet, a Green Party leader and former environment minister, said the resignation of Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei would ``probably be useful,'' but wouldn't be enough.
``We don't need the resignation, it's a symbol,'' she said on Europe-1 radio. ``The political weakness is in the whole government.''
She accused the government of trying to appear sympathetic to victims, while having cut budgets for health.
``I am very shocked to see and to hear these days the compassionate complaints - the crocodile tears,'' she said.
08/21/03 11:47 EDT
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. |
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