French Heat Wave Overloads Cemeteries

Guardian (UK) ^ | August 15th 2003 | Angela Doland

[Tauzero]

PARIS (AP) - Gravediggers were called back to work on a national holiday Friday to deal with the grim aftermath of a heat wave that left up to 3,000 dead in France.

With morgues full, authorities took over the vast storeroom of a Paris farmers' market or kept bodies in refrigerated tents - as temperatures subsided throughout Europe, ending one of the most severe periods of intense heat on record across the continent.

Morgues and cemeteries have been overwhelmed in the heat wave, which the health minister called ``a true epidemic.'' A Paris regional funeral official said families would likely have to wait 10-15 days to have relatives buried.

``We're explaining the situation to families,'' said Hugues Fauconnet of General Funeral Services, the country's largest undertaker. ``Our most important mission is to preserve the dignity of the deceased.''

Funeral officials claimed the 43,000 square-foot refrigerated storage area of the Paris area's wholesale market in the suburb of Rungis. They planned to place bodies on army cots.

Complicating matters for burials: Many priests were away on summer vacation in predominantly Roman Catholic France, which all but shuts down during August.

Doctors have said many victims, who were generally elderly, died of dehydration heat stroke in the punishing heat wave that has gripped Europe, where many homes and offices lack air conditioning.

Throughout Europe, temperatures settled back to normal Friday. At times, the mercury had hovered around 100 degrees, fanning forest fires and devastating livestock and crops.

Thunderstorms cooled Switzerland on Friday, while in the Netherlands, temperatures were down to 68 degrees. The heat eased in Germany, though officials were still on watch for fires.

France's political climate still simmered with accusations the government didn't do enough to prevent the crisis.

Despite warnings from emergency room doctors, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin waited until Wednesday to order Paris hospitals to prepare more beds and call health care workers back from vacation.

If the government had acted sooner, ``many lives could have been saved,'' Patrick Pelloux, head of the association for French emergency hospital physicians, told Le Parisien newspaper.

Former Health Minister Claude Evin, a Socialist, also accused the center-right government for waiting too long.

Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei toured a hospital Friday in the suburb of Longjumeau that set up a refrigerated tent to store bodies.

``We're on maximum alert,'' said Mattei, who has denied allegations of foot-dragging. ``The crisis is not over.''

Friday was a Roman Catholic holiday, the feast of the Assumption, and most of France had a long weekend. The Paris mayor's office authorized cemetery personnel to stay on the job.

If the preliminary French figures of up to 3,000 deaths holds, the death toll would be among the highest in recent years, officials at the World Health Organization in Geneva said.

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.

No other European countries reported deaths anywhere near the scale of those in France. Spain, for example, has recorded 42. Germany and Italy haven't 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.

[blanknoone]

I don't mean to disrespect the deceased, but 100 degrees is not all that hot, and the fact that the frogs put their vacation above keeping people alive and seeing them interred properly and promptly says a lot. We have hundreds of thousands in Iraq in far worse heat...and while I am certain there have been some heat casualties...no fatalities from that cause. All you really have to do is stay hydrated. Its not hard.

[PianoMan]

Tell me about it! Here in NY we had total blackout on one of the hottest days of the year...and one death, from climbing 18 flights down with a heart condition. And they have to nerve to make fun of us?? Or is this post in bad taste?

[RightWhale]

Visions of half the population in bikinis trying to lie down on slabs of cool marble.

[ErnBatavia]

authorities took over the vast storeroom of a Paris farmers' market

Note to self: Avoid French produce.

[EuroFrog]

I think we should vote to extend the heat wave, hopefully it wouldnt take too long to kill off all the French.

I agree 100 is the norm in many places but wow, 104+ for the last 2 weeks here and my buns are quite toasted! Keep in mind, most of Europe does not use air conditioners.

[Only1choice____Freedom]

100 degrees is not all that hot

It is when nobody takes a bath!

[2nd Amendment]

Frogs need lots of water when temperatures exceed 90 degrees.

[Tauzero]

"Keep in mind, most of Europe does not use air conditioners."

I know. My sister-in-law, a 6-figure professional for Novartis in Switzerland, works in an office w/o air conditioning.

Weird...

[StarCMC]

They refuse to support our war on terror... I say "NO AIR CONDITIONERS FOR YOU!!!"

[joesnuffy]

Funeral officials claimed the 43,000 square-foot refrigerated storage area of the Paris area's wholesale market in the suburb of Rungis. They planned to place bodies on army cots.

Let me get this straight...they have a giant refrigerted storage...to put people in AFTER they died of HEAT STROKE...

Why did they not make this available to people at risk BEFORE they died?????

[Bonaparte]

"Our most important mission is to preserve the dignity of the deceased."

But not the survival of the (formerly) living.

[Bonaparte]

Actually, temps rose above 100. Also, you're talking about dry heat, aren't you?

[mlmr]

Hydrated or not the elderly suffer in blistering heat. They die if not kept cool. If it is one hundred degrees out and your body is unable to disapate heat properly you become overheated, I remember working onece in a nursing home that was not air contitioned in the seventies and most of the elderly had elevated tempatures. Now these are people who usually run a few degres below normal.

[Consort]

Soylent vert.

[JohnBovenmyer]

I agree about comparing France to Iraq. If you believe the French we bombed Iraq back into the stone age, certainly back before the air conditioning age, yet Iraqi's seem to handle much greater heat with ease. Some enterprising Iraqis should start selling advice on how to cope with the heat to the French. But then maybe French society can't handle what Iraq would be selling. The most quoted Iraqi advice for hot weather is to take lots of showers!

[EuroFrog]

All your air conditioners are belong to us!

[EuroFrog]

Here in Germany while the temps were averaging 104ish the humidity was hovering at 30%

[EuroFrog]

The Army does not see fit to place any sort of cooling system in our housing either. Their answer to the heat, "Go buy a fan."

You ever had a fan blowing on your when it was over 100? Feels like the dog is sitting there panting on you.

[McGavin999]

Place a bowl of ice in front of it. It helps. In Arizona, where the temps can get over 110 on a regular basis we put wet sheets in front of a fan when there's no airconditioning.

[EuroFrog]

Im all about Arizona, I spent about 10 years there. My family is still there.