1,300 people die from heat stress on pilgrimage to Mecca, evidence of climate apocalypse – are you surprised?

Article by Eric Worrell

“…During the six days of Hajj, a total of 43 hours exceeded the upper limit of human heat tolerance. …”

This year, more than 1,300 pilgrims have died as humidity and heat exceeded survival limits. this is just the beginning

Published: December 19, 2024, 6:08 AM (AEDT)
Emma Ramsay Monash University Climate Adaptation Research Affiliate
Shanta Barley Adjunct Lecturer in Ecology, University of Western Australia

Every year, thousands of Muslims travel to Mecca for the Hajj. In 2024, the pilgrimage takes place in mid-June, the beginning of summer in Saudi Arabia.

But this year, more than 1,300 pilgrims failed to return home. The combination of deadly heat and humidity proved fatal.

Our new research shows that during the six days of Hajj, a total of 43 hours exceed the upper limit of human heat tolerance. During these times, the heat and humidity exceed what our bodies can cool down.

Scientists are increasingly worried about the toll from the humid heat wave and how it will escalate in the near future. This year is the hottest on record, surpassing the previous hottest year of 2023.

…

This year's pilgrimage begins on June 14.

…

Read more: https://theconversation.com/more-than-1-300-hajj-pilgrims-died-this-year-when-humidity-and-heat-pushed-past-survivable-limits-its-just- the -start-245271

Research summary;

• Comment
• Release date: December 18, 2024

Humid heat exceeds human tolerance limits and causes mass deaths

• Tom Matthews,
• Emma E. Ramsay,
• Fahad Saeed,
• Steven Sherwood,
• Ollie Jay,
• Colin Raymond,
• Nerilia Abram,
• Jason Kai Wei Lee,
• five grains of barley,
• Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick,
• Mariam Saleh Khan,
• Katrin J. Meissner,
• Callum Roberts,
• Dilip Mavalankar,
• Kenneth GC Smith,
• Atta Ullah,
• Anwar Sadad,
• Victoria Turner &
• Andrew Forrest

natural climate change (2024) cited this article

The hottest boreal summer on record has led to widespread heat and humidity death across continents in the northern hemisphere. As critical physiological limits of human heat tolerance draw ever closer, this review highlights the urgent need to limit further climate warming and highlights future adaptation challenges.

Learn more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-024-02215-8

The wet-bulb limit argument is nonsense.

When I was young, my first job was in a plastics factory with poor ventilation. My coworkers were a pregnant South Sea Islander and a bunch of old Eastern European smokers who used to smuggle vodka into the lunch room.

summer period Temperatures on the factory floor often reach 55C (130F). The factory is extremely humid, with not only the aging heat presses releasing large amounts of steam, but also the chemical processes. You can see visible vapor clouds hovering around the work area and everything is wet. The job is physically demanding, requiring constant hand movement of material and operation of heavy heat press bars.

It was the weirdest experience, walking into 110 degree weather after get off work and shivering from the cold for two minutes while my body adjusted to the outside temperature.

I have no idea what the wet bulb temperature was on that factory floor, but on the hottest days, all the managers acted as maids and provided us with refills of our drinks every five minutes. They may be in breach of some workplace health and safety laws operating in these temperatures and want to make sure none of us die.

So what happened to those pilgrims?

Obviously we can only speculate, but the pilgrims were more likely to die from dehydration and neglect, or not giving themselves enough time to acclimate to the hot weather.

You can't walk into the extreme conditions I just described, or the extreme conditions of the Arab Summer, and expect to feel good immediately. You have to build a tolerance for hot weather just like you build a tolerance for altitude when preparing for extreme mountaineering. Pilgrims who have just flown from a cold country do not give themselves time to adapt. As soon as they step out of the airport, their bodies will be under great pressure.

In addition, in order to survive the hot weather, you must consciously remind yourself to drink water often—— If you wait until you feel thirsty, your body is already in trouble. Those managers at the plant I described offered rehydration drinks every 5 minutes because that's what your body needs, and it's easy to get distracted and forget to take care of yourself in such a situation. You also need a balanced drink, electrolyte imbalance is fatal in this case – drink a soda can or anything other than a balanced rehydration drink and if you don't take good care of yourself you could be suffering from health problems within hours crisis.

My grandfather, who worked in the more extreme conditions of World War II steel foundries, told me how managers walked the factory floor making sure everyone took salt pills to prevent workers from fainting.

I believe the locals know how to survive, this is where they live – they learn how to survive in this climate as children. But for those who are not used to such conditions, or those who are so immersed in the moment that they forget to drink water, it is no different than someone who lives in a temperate climate and goes to a very cold place in the winter. If you don't know and strictly follow the rules, if you don't take care of yourself, you may lose your life.

Relevant