Pourquoi la canicule de 2003 a-t-elle tant tué ?

En France, 15 000 personnes sont mortes à cause de la canicule en 2003.

Transcript

00:00 August 2003, it's hot, too hot.

00:02 France is suffocating because of the heatwave.

00:04 During the first three weeks of August,

00:06 temperatures keep rising

00:08 to a record of 44.1°C.

00:10 Patients, mostly elderly,

00:12 are in the emergency services of hospitals,

00:14 dehydrated and hypothermic.

00:16 Staff is overwhelmed,

00:18 there is no bed and no means to refresh

00:20 the rooms and patients.

00:22 What do they care about the General Health Directorate?

00:24 Who are they making fun of? The problem is real.

00:26 We have patients dying,

00:28 maybe earlier than they should,

00:30 but they shouldn't have died.

00:32 Doctors point a finger at a gap

00:34 between staff on the ground and public authorities.

00:36 On vacation, Jean-Pierre Raffarin's

00:38 right-wing government is slow to react

00:40 to the crisis situation.

00:42 It will take two weeks for an emergency plan

00:44 to be launched to manage

00:46 this overmortality.

00:48 Meanwhile, funeral services are overwhelmed.

00:50 15,000 people die,

00:52 mostly elderly.

00:54 87% of the victims are over 70 years old.

00:56 At the time, it created a big awareness

00:58 about the way French society

01:00 takes care of its seniors.

01:02 Many of the victims were alone and isolated.

01:04 Such a striking event that there was a before and after 2003.

01:06 Among other things,

01:08 a heatwave plan is launched every summer,

01:10 Météo France integrates the risk of extreme heat

01:12 in its bulletins,

01:14 and the EPADs have been widely air-conditioned.