Deaths from heat are shaped by inequality’ – understanding the stealthy killer
Rising temperatures in different countries across the globe act as a stealthy killer that preys on the most economically fragile, according to Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute of Imperial College London.
Heat inequality is causing thousands of unreported deaths in poor countries and communities, the leading analyst of climate impacts cautioned, after global temperature records that may not have been seen in the past 120,000 years.
Extreme heat exacerbating the inquality crisis
The advice from Otto comes amid rising concerns over the hidden toll of heat inequality. Last month, UN Secretary-General Guterres announced a global call to action on extreme heat. Brutal temperatures have been hurting the vulnerable and the exposed most.
Extreme heat is increasingly tearing through economies, exacerbating the inequality crisis, undermining the sustainable development objectives and killing scores of people, he said. “It is estimated to kill almost half a million people a year.”
Heat inequality is self-reinforcing. The rich people glide from air-conditioned homes into air-conditioned cars to air-conditioned offices, but the heat from these artificially cooled environments is sent on to the street outside, hurting less advantaged people.
Migrants and pilgrims suffering due to brutal temperatures
The inequality of suffering is connected to migration and pilgrimages, too. In June, media reports highlighted the deaths of dozens of Sudanese migrants from the scorching heat at an illegal border crossing into Egypt. Mexican and Syrian migrants have also died from the crisis.
More than 80% of the 1,300 Hajj pilgrims recently died of heat-related causes are unauthorised pilgrims. These people could not afford air-conditioned accommodation and transport. Many of them had to stay on the streets in temperatures that approached 50 degrees Celsius.
