http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/08/21/international1537EDT0656.DTL
Thursday, August 21,
2003
San Francisco Chronicle
[
See
map of heat wave in Europe, Aug 3 - Aug 9, 2003... ]
[ See
photograph of dried up Lake Revel in Southwestern France...
]
France says up to 10,000 dead in heat wave
JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer
(08-21) 12:37 PDT PARIS
(AP) -- As many as 10,000 people may have died
in France's heat wave, the government acknowledged Thursday, and
a
solemn President Jacques Chirac promised health system changes.
But he also leveled a criticism at the public, saying many elderly
victims "died alone in their homes."
Chirac, under fire
from opposition politicians and newspapers for not
speaking out earlier, promised "everything will be done"
to correct
failings in the health system that was overwhelmed by victims
of
the heat. But his government said ministers would not resign.
While praising emergency,
hospital and retirement home workers,
Chirac peppered his address to the nation with criticism of a
society he said needs to better care for its most vulnerable
members.
"The heat wave
touched the health and daily lives of the French.
It caused a large number of victims," Chirac said after a
Cabinet
meeting on the crisis. "Many fragile people died alone in
their
homes. These dramas again shed light on the solitude of many of
our aged or handicapped citizens."
France's longest and
hottest heat wave, with temperatures that
topped 104 in the first two weeks of August, probably caused
some 10,000 deaths, said Hubert Falco, secretary of state for
the elderly.
In a separate interview
with the newspaper Le Monde, he said
the crisis showed France is coping badly with aging, a problem
shared by many developed nations.
Falco said "mortality
linked to the heat wave was highest"
among people over 85 -- who now number 1.2 million in France,
and in 10 years will total 2.4 million.
But nearly 80 percent
of retirement facilities are short-staffed,
he said. "Our society was not prepared," Falco said.
While other European
governments have not reported the huge
death toll of France, signs are emerging of significant spikes
in deaths in several countries where temperatures also soared.
The Central Bureau
for Statistics said the heat claimed
500-1,000 lives in the Netherlands, and Portugal's Health
Ministry estimated more than 1,300 dead.
Germany, which was
not as hot and is counting its dead
more slowly, has tallied just 30 heat-related deaths.
Italy's Health Ministry
has refused to give figures,
but calls by The Associated Press to several major cities
found marked increases in deaths compared with last year.
Genoa had 693 in the first 18 days of August, compared
with 475 in the whole month last year. In Turin, 732 died,
more than 500 of them aged over 70, compared with 388 last year.
In France, morgues
and funeral homes overflowed with bodies,
hospitals struggled, and painful questions are being asked
about attitudes toward the elderly.
"People have lost
their sense of responsibility. They think
the government is going to resolve every problem in their
life," said Nadia Finkielman, lending moral support to a
grieving friend at a Paris morgue where mourning families
prepared to bury their dead.
Alerted by a caretaker
who noticed her mail piling up,
police in the Normandy town of Caen discovered the body
of a 73-year-old woman Wednesday who lived alone and
apparently died a month ago.
Some critics blamed
families for leaving elderly relatives
at home while they took August vacations. Health workers
blamed understaffing and underfunding at hospitals and
retirement homes.
"As a result of
having counted the health costs for the
French down to the last cent, we're today counting the
dead," said Communist Party lawmaker Alain Bocquet.
That Chirac spoke live
on radio and television was a
measure of the pressure faced by his center-right
administration. As president, Chirac generally stays
above the political fray -- an attitude now being assailed.
Chirac was vacationing
in Canada during the heat wave and
did not speak about the crisis until Thursday, although
aides said he was following the situation. Some critics
noted that unlike former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin,
who broke off a vacation to Egypt when France suffered
storms in 1999, Chirac did not return home.
"What wounded
the French was the feeling that their leaders
were not present on a moral, human and emotional level,"
Socialist lawmaker Jack Lang, a former education minister,
told daily Le Parisien.
"Chirac, a long
surprising silence," conservative-leaning
Le Figaro said. "Chirac counts the dead," said left-leaning
Liberation.
France's medical system
is widely regarded as one of the
world's best. But some health workers said it fell short
in August because of laws restricting France's work week
to 35 hours, worsening staff shortages.
Chirac promised reviews
and said emergency services would
be given means to deal with crises. But he stopped short
of saying whether the government -- already criticized
by the European Union for overspending -- would provide
more funding.
Opposition leaders
remained critical.
"Mr. Chirac's
belated compassion cannot exonerate the
government of its responsibility," said Francois Hollande
of the Socialist Party.
Gilles Lemaire of the
Greens called it an "empty speech,
devoid of concrete proposals."
