The Hindu : 'Over 10,000 died in heat wave'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Aug 22, 2003

International

International

'Over 10,000 died in heat wave'

By Vaiju Naravane

Paris Aug. 21. Over 10,000 persons are feared to have perished in the heat wave that held France in a vice-like grip for two weeks until mid-August, according to statistics issued on Wednesday. This doubles the figures advanced by the French Health Minister, Jean-Francois Mattei, earlier this week, placing the Government in an extremely uncomfortable position.

Doctors and the association of undertakers said that 13,600 deaths were recorded in August as compared to just 3,000 in the corresponding period last year. This means over 10,000 more people died in the month of August this year as compared to last year. Doctors say these deaths were caused by the intense heat, with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees Celsius for nearly two weeks. The president of the association of emergency doctors, Patrick Pelloux, said: "these figures indicate a humanitarian tragedy of catastrophic proportions.''

The President, Jacques Chirac, the Prime Minister, Jean Pierre Raffarin, and the Ministers have come in for severe criticism for their failure to return from vacation during the worst of the crisis. In an address to the nation today, Mr. Chirac vowed to fix shortcomings in the France's health system as he battled mounting public anger over his absence and Government inaction.

But a poll showing widespread dissatisfaction with Paris' handling of the disaster and press criticism of the summer "massacre'' showed he and his Ministers were facing their worst political crisis since winning elections last year.

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting, Mr. Chirac — back tanned and fresh from a three-week vacation in Canada — promised an inquiry into the way the disaster was handled, as well as additional measures for France's elderly, who formed the bulk of the heat wave victims.

France's biggest undertakers' group, the Pompes Funebres Generales, ratcheted up the pressure when it said it estimated that there were 10,000 more deaths than normal for the first three weeks of August.

But the Interior Ministry on Thursday said that, according to its own data, the death toll linked to the heat wave was fewer than 10,000.

A Ministry spokesman would not, however, give an official figure.

"The numbers are not 100 percent reliable, nor can they all be put down to the heat wave. That's why we are not making them public.''

France's major daily newspapers all concentrated on Mr. Chirac's absence during the heat wave and its immediate aftermath.

Mr. Chirac, however, avoided criticising his centre-right Government's actions, despite calls from some medical unions, the opposition and left-wing media that Mr. Mattei be sacked.

The Government spokesman, Jean-Francois Cope, said afterwards that "in no way'' had the question of certain Ministers resigning been raised during the meeting.

The surgeon-general, Lucien Abenhaim, resigned Monday over the issue, but he told media he was made a "scapegoat.''His exit appears to have done little to detract the public wrath from his superiors.

Doctors' groups have accused the Health Ministry of being slow to react to the crisis and ignoring early warning signals that hospital morgues were overflowing with bodies and heat-stroke medical staff on summer schedules was being stretched beyond breaking point.

Mr. Mattei promised answers to the "legitimate questions now being asked'' but he did not back down from his refusal to resign.

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