Bearing in mind it is inappropriate to comment on political/social
issues in this newsgroup, I append the following report for interest
- if the reported number of deaths is true, it must rank as one of the
worst weather-related disasters in Europe for some time.

I have just recently returned from a driving holiday in Europe and in
several places, people remarked on the unpleasantness of the weather -
the worst aspect being the inability to sleep due to the excessive
night-time minima. Fortunately I arrived just as the heat wave was
breaking down with a series of spectacular thunderstorms.

The comment about the French habit of the whole country taking leave
at the same time was interesting, and how it may have contributed to
deaths among the elderly. I was in Europe just after this period and
the roads seemed uncannily quiet.

http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl...eg=EUROPE#body

Anger, disbelief as Europe tots up heat wave deaths

By Catherine Bremer


PARIS, Aug. 27 — Close to 20,000 mainly elderly people may have died
in the stifling heat wave that gripped Europe this month, latest
estimates show, as anger and disbelief over the crisis spread from
Paris to Palermo.

In France, where pictures of unclaimed corpses piling up in
refrigerator trucks have shocked the nation, the government has
admitted failings and appointed experts to establish how many of an
estimated 13,600 extra deaths in August were directly caused by the
hottest weather in 60 years.

The Italian government is investigating reports that deaths
leapt 20 percent in a summer where the mercury has been hitting a
sweltering 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) since June.

A Spanish rights group alleges the scorching weather killed
2,000 in Spain, dwarfing a government estimate of 101, and Portugal
says it claimed 1,300 lives in a summer that saw swathes of forestland
destroyed by fires.

''We are all guilty. Even if the figures aren't definite, we
know several thousand people died, which is a tragedy, and shows the
system isn't working properly,'' Jean-Louis Sanchez, head of French
welfare rights group ODAS, told LCI television.

''This mostly concerned frail, often isolated, elderly people
who were very vulnerable,'' he said, adding that families needed to
take more responsibility for caring for elderly relatives.

France has been harder hit than countries like Spain and Italy
where summers are normally hotter and many homes have electric fans or
air conditioning.

Even the normally mild Netherlands and Britain are counting
heat wave victims. The Dutch Health Ministry says between 500 and
1,000 died from the heat, and Britain says there were 907 more deaths
in the week to August 15 than in an average year.

Germany, which has been less humid than its neighbours to the
south and west, has no official estimate yet.

GUILT SWEEPS FRANCE

While some French blame the government for failing to react
fast enough to a crisis that by mid-August had swamped hospitals and
morgues, others are guilt-stricken knowing that so many fled on
holiday leaving elderly relatives to fend for themselves. ''450
forgotten deaths. Everyone is guilty,'' was the headline of a
front-page article in Le Parisien this week on the mass of unclaimed
corpses headed for temporary burials in pauper graves.

''In what kind of conditions are we living that we forget about
our fathers, mothers, grandparents?'' Le Parisien asked.

Even younger Parisians suffered, many resorting to sleeping in
wet clothes or with bags of ice as they tried to get through
suffocatingly hot nights without air conditioning or fans.

The government and the French Red Cross have cast doubt on an
estimated death toll of 13,600, calculated by a major funeral parlour
as a national projection of its own business. But an official figure
will not be available until late September.

Italy, where the heat wave has also dominated the media, will
also have to wait until September for its final death toll, but Health
Minister Girolamo Sirchia has already proposed a tax that would go
towards providing better services for the elderly.

Meanwhile, many in France are calling for a full inquiry.

''Our neighbours in Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg have been
subjected to the same heat wave and it seems the consequences in those
countries have been less severe,'' said Jean-Louis Debre, national
assembly president. ''We need to find out why.''