"Once underground, each youngster was asked to simulate the effects of extreme temperatures that might become reality in their lifetimes. Some pretended to have been poisoned by food that spoiled during a power outage. Others faked the effects of carbon monoxide leaking from a faulty generator. Meanwhile, Red Cross workers scrambled to decide who to send to overwhelmed hospitals. Around them, dozens of others - fire fighters, city officials, teachers - did their best to simulate the chaos and cascading impacts a heat wave of unprecedented duration and intensity might force them to confront."
"The tunnel, part of the abandoned Petite Ceinture railway encircling the city, is always 64 degrees Fahrenheit (18 degrees Celsius), making it the perfect safe haven from the potentially lethal heat imagined outside. Once underground, each youngster was asked to simulate the effects of extreme temperatures that might become reality in their lifetimes. Some pretended to have been poisoned by food that spoiled during a power outage. Others faked the effects of carbon monoxide leaking from a faulty generator."
"The exercise, called Paris at 50 degrees Celsius, was designed to imagine what might happen if the mercury hits 122 degrees F, something scientists warn is increasingly likely by 2100. It combined live drills and a tabletop exercise to help shape a plan to protect the city's 2 million people from that kind of heat. Once limited to a handful of cities, these exercises are spreading as local governments stress test health services, emergency response, and essential infrastructure before temperatures reach dangerous extremes."
"European governments are being urged to prepare for 5 to 6 degrees F (2.8 to 3.3 degrees C) of warming, a change that could push Paris toward dangerous summertime temperatures by the end of the century. Such heat is a global threat. Modeling suggests more than 1.6 billion people in nearly 1,000 cities could regularly"
About 70 children took part in a heat emergency rehearsal in a cool tunnel beneath Paris, using simulations to experience scenarios such as food poisoning from power outages and carbon monoxide exposure from faulty generators. Red Cross workers coordinated decisions about who to send to overwhelmed hospitals while firefighters, city officials, and teachers simulated cascading effects of a prolonged, intense heat wave. The exercise, called Paris at 50 degrees Celsius, combined live drills and tabletop planning to address what could happen if temperatures reach 122 degrees Fahrenheit, a level scientists warn is increasingly likely by 2100. Similar exercises are spreading as governments stress test health systems, emergency response, and essential infrastructure. European warming projections could raise summertime temperatures, and modeling indicates large populations in many cities may face regular extreme heat.
#extreme-heat-preparedness #emergency-response-planning #public-health-and-hospitals #climate-change-adaptation #european-urban-resilience
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