2023-06-08 06:04:13
Scarlet red, even crimson, weather maps from Brest to Ajaccio: last year, France suffocated relentlessly under extreme temperatures. The year 2022, the hottest on record, gave rise to thirty-three days of heat wave – unheard of – three heat waves, one of which in June, three other heat episodes, 1,500 local records and 11,000 deaths. This year, the government has decided to anticipate possible new outbreaks of the thermometer. It publishes, Thursday, June 8, the first national plan for the management of heat waves.
“We needed a doctrine to deal with heat waves, which will multiply and intensify, common rules to ensure the continuity of public services, economic activities and protect the most vulnerable”explain to Monde Christophe Béchu, the Minister of Ecological Transition. After the 2003 heat wave, which caused 15,000 deaths, France adopted a heat wave plan, but covering only health aspects. There is an urgent need to better equip all sectors, while the frequency of heat waves is expected to double in the territory by 2050.
The ministry’s plan revolves around fifteen main measures, which will be effective in the summer. The first step is to better protect vulnerable people, by encouraging them to register in the municipal registers – which allows them to be called during heat waves to make sure they are well.
To achieve this, the government wants to mobilize young people in universal national service, while La Poste offers the help of its postmen and will launch an experiment in this direction. A control of the temperatures of the school buildings will also be carried out each year, with the possibility of renting other cooler rooms to accommodate the examinations of the patent and the baccalaureate.
“Sustainable cooling solutions”
The government will also conduct awareness campaigns for the general public, in particular by sending SMS during “exceptional situations”. It will be a question of informing on the work and the behavior to adopt in the residences, the risks in transport or the risks of drowning, 500 each summer. Cool islands and public fountains should be identified in the municipalities. And the Ecological Transition Agency (Ademe) will renew Plus frais ma ville, a public digital decision support service for cities that want to set up “sustainable cooling solutions”.
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