Heatwave deaths almost ignored as bushfire deaths steal the headlines

R

eporting of the 300 plus deaths in the week leading up to the February 2009 “Black Saturday” bushfires was almost ignored as the 173 deaths from the actual event stole the headlines.

A week of punishing temperatures proved more deadly than the fires themselves.

Such extreme events will become more common as global warming tightens its grip on earth.

The Pakistani newspaper Dawn tells how heat alone has ripped through parts of India.

It reports: “Another 105 people died of heatstroke on Thursday, bringing the death toll to 1,116 in Sindh, even though the harsh weather that has overwhelmed the province for a week subsided considerably.

“Officials said the number of heatstroke patients arriving at hospitals had reduced significantly on Thursday because the weather was quite windy and, at times, cloudy, but it failed to completely stop the heatwave attacking them.

“On Thursday, at least 90 people died in Karachi and 15 in other districts of Sindh,” a government official said.

“Hyderabad, Thatta, Matiari and Benazirabad were among the districts where these fatalities occurred,” the paper said.

Read the Dawn story - “Heatwave death toll in Sindh tops 1,000”.