PROPERTY SEARCH
ARCHIVED - How has climate change killed 16,000 people in Spain?
Thousands of people died during the heatwave of 2003 in Spain
Extreme climatic phenomena such as floods, storms and heatwaves have left their mark on the population of Europe over the last 40 years, claiming the lives of a staggering 142,000 people. Spain hasn’t escaped this carnage, and during the scorching spell in 2003 when temperatures climbed into the 40s, almost 13,000 people lost their lives.
In fact, 85% of the excess deaths recorded between 1981 and 2020 have been caused by extreme heat, and the 2003 heatwave in Spain accounted for between 50% and 75% of all climate-related fatalities in the last four decades.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation, “the number of climate-related disasters has increased globally in the last 50 years, causing more damage but fewer deaths,” due mainly to the improvement of early warning signals and disaster management.
While the loss of human life is of course the most tragic aspect of climatic disasters, the cost to the public coffers can’t be ignored. Across Europe, the bill has exceeded half a billion euros over the last 40 years, with Spain racking up a debt of 60,976 million.
The number of adverse events has increased exponentially as the decades have ticked by, and the impact of these phenomena, which experts warn will certainly continue to rise due to climate change, are being closely monitored around the world so that governments can “minimise damage and loss of human life.”
With the situation likely to get much worse before it gets better, the European Environment Agency (EEA) is scrambling to find solutions, one of which is increasing insurance coverage, particularly in countries such as Lithuania and Romania, to mitigate the enormous expenses incurred.
In addition, “adopting climate measures in line with a scenario of a temperature increase of 1.5°C instead of 3°C could avoid up to 60,000 deaths per year due to heatwaves and prevent losses due to drought of 20,000 million euros per year by the end of this century", according to the EEA.
Image 1: Archive
Image 2: European Environment Agency
Like this article?
Get more like this delivered straight to your inbox every week.Sign up for the Spanish News Today Editors Roundup Weekly Bulletin to get a comprehensive email with all the week’s news for Spain, Murcia, Alicante and Andalucía.Special offer: Subscribe now for 25% off (36.95 euros for 48 Bulletins)
OR
you can sign up to our FREE weekly roundup!
Don’t know what we’re talking about? Take a look at our recent Subscription Bulletins to remind you what our Roundup is all about.
Take advantage of our 25% Discount Special Offer subscription at 36.95€ for 48 Editor’s Weekly News Roundup bulletins.
Special offer 25% discount 12 months 48 Bulletins
Please CLICK THE BUTTON to subscribe.
List price 12 months 48 Bulletins
List price 3 months 12 Bulletins
Contact Murcia Today: Editorial 966 260 896 /
Office 968 018 268
