Headline, July 01 2024/ ''' HELL FIRE HEAT '''

 

''' HELL FIRE 

HEAT '''

BIG EVENTS HIGHLIGHT THE HEAVY TOLL of severe hell heat. Deaths at religious rituals and festivals underscore the risks of failing to adjust. 

AT LARGE EVENTS all over the world - the scenes of extreme heat stress are starting to look familiar. Older men, shirts undone, lying down with their eyes closed. Aid tents pecked with the unconscious. 

And lines of the faithful - whether they seek religion, music, ballot boxes or sport - sweating under slivers of shade.

The consequences have been dire. At this year's Hajj, - the Islamic pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, at least 1,300 people died as temperatures surpassed 100 degrees Fahrenheit [ 38 Celsius ].

And in many ways, that heavy toll was just the latest sign that crowd control and heat waves fueled by climate change are on a dangerous collision course.

During India's recent elections, dozens of poll workers died on the job. Last summer, troops of Boy Scouts visiting South Korea for a jubilee became sick from heat, as did others at music festivals in Australia, Europe and North America.

HEAT KILLS more people today than other extreme weather event, but there is a dangerous cultural lag. Many major event organizers and attendees are behind the climate curve, failing to contend with just how much a warming planet has elevated the risk to summer crowds.

'' As the warm season gets longer, as the heat wave comes earlier, we're going to have to adapt,'' said Benjamin Zaitchik, a climate scientist at Johns Hopkins University who studies health damaging climate events.

Along with personal behavior, he added, infrastructure, emergency  management and social calendars must '' really acknowledge this new reality.''

Among the many low-tech ways to prevent sickness and death are shade, water stations,  sidewalks painted white to reflect heat and emergency health services to treat severe cases of heat stroke.

Some hot and innovative places, like Singapore, have constructed public spaces uniting the outdoors with the indoors. They have added air-conditioning to areas where people might have to spend time waiting, such as bus stops.

The hardest fix of all may be one that is also in some ways the simplest : educating ordinary people about the risks of heat, including those who are accustomed to living in hot places.

Often, they are unaware of the early symptoms of heat stress or the dangers high temperatures present for people with pre-existing health conditions, like kidney disease or hypertension.

Even medicines, such as anticholinergic drugs, that treat allergies or asthma can accelerate problems by restricting sweat.

'' HEAT is a very, very complex and sneaky killer,'' said Tarik Benmarhnia, an environmental epidemiologist and associate professor at University of California, San Diego.  ''It's very silent.''

Health officials in India have had to prepare. Inside heatstroke units in Delhi hospitals, patients were immediately immersed in ice-filled submersion tubs to bring down their temperatures.

In a ward equipped with ice-making refrigerator, ice-boxes and ventilators, critical patients were immediately placed on slabs of ice and injected with cold fluids.

The Honour and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Heat, Waves and Adapting, continues. The World Students Society thanks authors Damien Cave and Somini Sengupta.

With most respectful dedication to Mankind, Grandparents, Parents, Students, Professors and teachers of the world.

See You all prepare for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society - the exclusive and eternal ownership of every student in the world : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter X !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

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