Natural disasters can be dramatic, but heat is more deadly. Chicago learned that the hard way in July 1995, when a weeklong heat wave killed more than 700 people. Chicago has since developed emergency heat response plans. But experts warn those steps might not be enough in a world that is seeing heat records consistently shatter.
Natural disasters can be dramatic -- barreling hurricanes, building-toppling tornadoes -- but heat is more deadly. That July, a weeklong heat wave that hit 106 degrees Fahrenheit killed more than 700 people. Most of the deaths occurred in poor and majority Black neighborhoods, where many elderly or isolated people suffered without proper ventilation or air conditioning. Power outages from an overwhelmed grid made it all worse.
"I don't know a single city that is truly prepared for the worst-case scenario that some climate scientists fear," said Eric Klinenberg, a professor of social sciences at New York University who wrote a book about the Chicago heat wave. Venkat thinks cities should address inequality by investing in labor rights, sustainable development and more. That may sound expensive -- who pays, for instance, when a city tries to improve conditions for workers in blistering food trucks? -- but Venkat thinks doing nothing will ultimately cost more.
He lauded the heat officers in cities like Los Angeles, Miami and Phoenix, but he said there are"still over 19,000 cities and towns without them." In Providence, Rhode Island, the Atlantic Ocean typically moderates temperatures, but the region can still get heat waves. Kate Moretti, an emergency room physician, said the city's hospitals see more patients when the heat strikes -- with increases in illnesses that may not be obviously related to heat, like heart attacks, kidney failure and mental health problems.
Robin Bachin, an associate professor of civic and community engagement at the University of Miami, noted that the federal government has laws to protect people in cold climates from having their heat shut off in dangerous conditions, but doesn't have something similar for cooling.
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