SEVERAL thousand Muscovites are thought to have died in July alone from this year’s unprecedented heatwave and August could add more fatalities, a Russian scientist said on Tuesday.
Moscow, a metropolis of over 10 million people, has suffered intense heat since late June, with day temperatures sometimes nearing 40 deg C.
The crisis shrivelled a third of Russia’s grain crop, shaved billions off this year’s economic growth and killed at least 54 people in wildfires. The heat subsided on Tuesday.
Citing a report by the Moscow Registry Office, Boris Revich, a senior demography and ecology researcher at Russia’s Academy of Sciences, said 5,840 more Muscovites had died in July than in the same month last year. Mr Revich said he believed the overwhelming majority of these additional deaths had been caused by the fierce heatwave. [More]
Posted on August 18, 2010 by Ruang Hati Blog
0