Some 1,300 deaths due to heatwave in Portugal: report

LISBON (AFP) Aug 21, 2003
Over 1,300 more people died in Portugal in the first two weeks of August than in the previous year, and officials believe the extra deaths were mostly due to the heatwave that ravaged much of southern Europe, the national news agency Lusa said.

The figure was quoted in a preliminary report by the official National Health Institute which is due to be released on Thursday, Lusa said.

In the report Doctor Ricardo Jorge wrote that 1,316 more people died in the country between the end of July and August 12 than in the same period of 2002.

In common with several other European countries, Portugal was hard hit by the heatwave, which caused both devastating fires and an increase in deaths among vulnerable sections of the population, notably old people.

A major political scandal has broken out in France as it has emerged that thousands of people, many of them elderly and living alone, died as a result of the heat.

TERRA.WIRE