![]() Kate Moretti, an emergency room physician, said the city’s hospitals see more patients when the heat strikes – with increases in illnesses that may not be obviously related to heat, like heart attacks, kidney failure and mental health problems. In Providence, Rhode Island, the Atlantic Ocean typically moderates temperatures but the region can still get heat waves. “Notably, low-income neighborhoods and communities of color in Philadelphia often lack street trees and green spaces,” Han said. ![]() He said more can be done, too, with simple and sustainable solutions such as improving tree canopy. Inkyu Han, an environmental health scientist at Temple University in Philadelphia, noted that cities are still struggling to get aids such as cooling centers and subsidized air conditioning into poorer neighborhoods. He lauded the heat officers in cities like Los Angeles, Miami and Phoenix, but said there are “still over 19,000 cities and towns without them.” The alerts go out when the forecast calls for a heat index of 105 Fahrenheit or higher, and sets in motion things like more social services in communities most vulnerable to heat risks. Ladd Keith, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, cited Baltimore’s Code Red Extreme Heat alerts as an example of a well-designed alert system. Another simple initiative: Painting roofs white to reflect the blazing sun. City officials now have a heat action plan to improve awareness in the local population and health care staff. In India, a powerful heat wave in 2010 with temperatures over 118 degrees Fahrenheit led to the deaths of over 1,300 people in the city of Ahmedabad. Just last month, Germany launched a new campaign against heatwave deaths that it said was inspired by France’s experience. The system includes public announcements urging people to hydrate. “We just don’t do the math.”įrance launched a heat watch warning system after an extended heat wave in 2003 was estimated to have caused 15,000 deaths – many of them older people in city apartments and homes without air conditioning. “The status quo is actually deeply expensive,” he said. That may sound expensive – who pays, for instance, when a city tries to improve conditions for workers in blistering food trucks? – but Venkat thinks doing nothing will ultimately cost more. Venkat thinks cities should address inequality by investing in labor rights, sustainable development and more. ![]() That’s because each has its own unique architecture, transportation, layout and inequities, said Bharat Venkat, an associate professor at UCLA who directs the university’s Heat Lab, aimed at tackling what he calls “thermal inequality.” Chicago, for example, has expanded its emergency text and email notification system and identified its most vulnerable residents for outreach.īut what works in one city might not be as effective in another. Heat preparedness has generally improved over the years as forecasting has become more accurate, and as meteorologists, journalists and government officials have focused on spreading the word of upcoming danger. “I don’t know a single city that is truly prepared for the worst-case scenario that some climate scientists fear,” said Eric Klinenberg, a professor of social sciences at New York University who wrote a book about the Chicago heat wave.Įxtreme heat killed about 61,000 people in Europe last summer, The New York Times reported Monday. Around the world, cities and countries have adopted similar measures.īut experts warn those steps might not be enough in a world that is seeing heat records consistently shatter and with continuing inequality in who is most vulnerable. Other cities like Los Angeles, Miami and Phoenix now have “chief heat officers” to coordinate planning and response for dangerous heat. ![]() Initially slow to react, Chicago has since developed emergency heat response plans that include a massive push to alert the public and then connect the most vulnerable to the help they may need. Power outages from an overwhelmed grid made it all worse. Most of the deaths occurred in poor and majority Black neighborhoods, where many elderly or isolated people suffered without proper ventilation or air conditioning. That July, a weeklong heat wave that hit 106 degrees Fahrenheit killed more than 700 people. ![]()
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