It’s getting hotter in Germany. Minister of Health Lauterbach wants to create a protection plan. There are many role models. Which way will Lauterbach go?
When the sun is beating down in Berlin, the apartments and the asphalt are heating up, there is a place of refuge for those who have nowhere else to go: drinks and meals are offered in a house in the Schöneberg district, there are also showers, washrooms and a shady garden and sleeping places. The house was actually supposed to be demolished, but since last year it has been an oasis for heat sufferers instead.
The project is aimed at the homeless, but everyone else is welcome too. And the offer has been well received: although only 20 beds are available, 50 to 60 people come and go every day, says Artam Zeka, who manages the project for the Internationaler Bund Berlin-Brandenburg.
“Even older people from the neighborhood who find it too hot and stuffy in their apartment visit us,” says Zeka. “The need is huge.”
Experts see it that way too. Because the number of hot days with air temperatures above 30 degrees in Germany is increasing. While there were three such days a year in the 1950s, there are now an average of nine, according to the German Weather Service – a tripling. The heat waves are not only increasing in frequency but also in intensity. With deadly consequences: The Robert Koch Institute reports a “heat-related excess mortality” of 4,500 people in 2022.
(Source: DWD, Heike Aßmann)
Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach (SPD) has also recognized the problem. He wants to draw up a nationwide heat plan this summer, and he will meet with experts for the first time on Monday.
So far, Germany has been poorly prepared: Many municipalities have no heat plan at all, and some have developed their own in recent years. Berlin is a pioneer among the federal states, after all, in addition to the shelter in Schöneberg, there are already guidelines for the health sector during heat waves.
The big question with this patchwork is now: What should actually be in Lauterbach’s national heat plan?
Karl Lauterbach (SPD): He wants to create a national heat plan. (Source: IMAGO/Janine Schmitz/photothek.de)
Canceled trains in the UK, work ban in Spain
There are many role models in Europe: France, Italy, Spain, but also countries such as Great Britain and the Netherlands have already drawn up national emergency plans for heat phases. They all provide for the warning of the population in the event of persistently high temperatures, and tips on clothing, drinks, sunscreen and sport are then given to the public.
But the plans go beyond that: in the Netherlands, movable bridges are cooled at temperatures above 25 degrees, which threaten to expand in the heat and have often had to be closed in the past. In Great Britain, trains are canceled when temperatures exceed 40 degrees because the tracks could deform. Spain is currently working on a law that would ban working outside when the highest heat warning level is triggered.
Trains stopped in Great Britain in mid-July 2022 because of the heat: on the hottest day of the year, little was going on the rails. (Source: IMAGO/Paul Marriott)
Role model France
According to Lauterbach, France should be a role model for Germany. A long-lasting heat wave there in 2003 claimed more than 10,000 lives. The government reacted to this 20 years ago with a national heat plan. The provides for a heat warning system in four stages (green, yellow, orange, red).
At the “Orange” level, cool rooms are made available in France, beds are increased in hospitals, and home care services are mobilized. Municipalities also distribute water at central points, vulnerable groups of people are called and asked if they are okay.
