"Already Uncontrollable": Over 4,500 Could Die in Four Days... Experts Warn of Unprecedented Situation

The World Suffers Under Record-Breaking Heatwaves
Warnings Grow Over Global Climate Crisis
"The Key Question Is How Long the Heatwaves Will Last"

As the effects of global warming lead to a series of extreme weather events such as heatwaves and wildfires, warnings about the global climate crisis are growing louder around the world.

According to Politico, an American political magazine, on the 1st (local time), Marisol Iglesias Gonzalez, a climate change and health expert at the World Health Organization (WHO), warned that tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths could occur in European countries if they do not respond immediately to weather conditions. With temperatures in some European countries exceeding 40 degrees Celsius, she raised the possibility of increasing casualties, especially among the elderly and vulnerable, due to heat-related illnesses, exhaustion, and the worsening of pre-existing medical conditions.

As weekend temperatures are expected to exceed 40 degrees, Portuguese citizens are cooling off at the beach. Photo by AFP

Pierre Marcello, a statistician at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, also expressed concern that more than 4,500 excess deaths (deaths exceeding the usual level) could occur in Europe over the four days from June 30 to July 3 due to the heatwave. In fact, an analysis released earlier this year of heatwave-related deaths in 854 European cities found that more than 175,000 people die each year as a direct or indirect result of heatwaves.

A woman in London wrapped her body with cloth to shield herself from the sun. Photo by AP Yonhap News

On the 1st (local time), tourists are using parasols to shield themselves from the scorching sun in front of Sforzesco Castle in Milan, Italy. Photo by AP Yonhap News

This phenomenon is not limited to Europe. In the United States as well, a heatwave warning was issued from the Midwest to the East Coast in late June. In Boston, the daytime high reached 39 degrees Celsius, and temperature-related records were repeatedly broken in about twenty regions. Although a brief period of relief was brought by cool northern winds, meteorologists warned that the heatwave would soon return.

A police officer is cooling off with water in Washington, D.C. Photo by AP News

Gonzalez assessed that as climate change caused by global warming becomes more apparent, heatwaves have now become the 'new normal' rather than an extreme event. She said, "The question is no longer whether heatwaves will come, but how frequently they will occur and how long they will last."

Experts are raising concerns that climate change has already reached an uncontrollable stage, and that the world's weather may have entered 'uncharted territory'.