BRUSSELS — Spring has traditionally brought new beginnings: daylight increases, flowers bloom and temperatures become pleasantly warm. However, in recent years, it's also brought justified fears about extreme heat, with summers in Southern Europe getting hotter because of climate change. Older people, children, people with disabilities and people with mental health conditions are among those at higher risk.
City officials and Health Ministry officials I spoke to admitted the information they provided about heat measures was not provided in formats that would be accessible to people with various disabilities.And they didn't have an overview of what emergency measures had been activated across Andalusia, including where and how many cooling centers were opened. Nor does the national government collect data on deaths of people with disabilities due to extreme heat.