New Delhi: Germany reported approximately 5,120 deaths due to heatwave this year. Most of the deaths took place in June , when the average temperatures
in a week far exceeded 20 degrees Celsius, said the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for public health.
Reuters quoted RKI as saying that the majority of deaths were among people aged 75 years or older. Of the over 5,000 deaths, 4,270 were people aged more than 75 years. The RKI report further said that more women than men died in Germany. The reason for this was that there are more elderly women than men in the country.
Germany’s deaths were only a minuscule part of the grim picture across Europe this summer season, when the heatwave has hit across the continent. The Copernicus Climate Change Service which gives updates about weather in Europe said that the continent had experienced its hottest June on record, with average temperatures being 20.74 degrees Celsius.
Apart from Germany, deaths due to heatwaves were also recorded in France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands. There were at least 4,700 excess deaths in these countries, between June 20 to June 28.
The RKI further said that Germany saw 8,400 heatwave deaths in 2018 and another 6,900 people died due to the same cause the following year, which means 2019. Both these were the highest heatwave related deaths recorded in the country.
A Green Party leader, Katharina Droege, said that over the weekend June 27-28, a total of 120 people died of heatwave related causes in the western German city of Cologne. This number, according to the politician, was much higher than usual.
Droege then attacked the Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, accusing him of failing to comment on the heatwave and the deaths it had caused. This the political leader said, despite the fact that emergency personnel are struggling to contain the impact of the heatwave and also despite the rising death toll.
