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Thursday, September 11, 2003

Italy says more than 4,000 elderly died in heat wave

Associated Press
Rome, September 11

About 4,175 elderly Italians died in the summer heat wave that scorched
Europe this year, the Health Ministry said on Thursday, offering their first
official figures related to the searing temperatures.

The ministry said that there were 34,071 deaths during the period of July 16
to August 15, as opposed to 29,896 in 2002, a 14 per cent increase.

"There is a relationship between heat peaks and mortality," said Dr Donato
Greco, an official of the ministry's Superior Health Institute, which
compiled the figures. Greco and Health Minister Girolamo Sirchia presented
the data on Thursday.

The Health Ministry had initially refused to release any data on deaths
during the heat wave, saying it was impossible to determine if weather was
the cause. But it changed course after a public outcry erupted following the
startling figures registered by France.

Several European countries have reported sharp increases in their death
tolls compared to previous years, but France topped the list, with the
government saying an estimated 11,435 people died because of the heat. The
country's leading undertaker put the number at 15,000 on Tuesday.

In Italy, temperatures started rising in June and soared well into the 40s
Celsius in July and August in many parts of the country, leaving residents
and tourists sweating under high humidity and a scorching sun.

The ministry launched an investigation late last month, following media
reports that the death rate had risen dramatically during the first half of
August, particularly among the elderly, the ill and people living alone.

No other European country came close to France's death toll. Spain has
reported 100 heat-related deaths, while Portugal, which has seen the
harshest and longest heat wave in living memory, scrapped its initial
estimate of 1,300 deaths and lowered it to just four.

In Amsterdam, Dutch authorities estimated 1,000 to 1,400 victims. In
Britain, there were 907 more deaths registered during the week ending Aug.
15 compared to the average from the same period over the previous five
years, officials said.

© Hindustan Times Ltd. 2003.
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